Why the BBC might not be the people to talk to if you are embarrassed and upset...

There's a very interesting story on today's BBC website about a Mum and child who were thrown off a bus because of the 2 year olds behaviour (click here). This is undoubtably every parents nightmare situation, and as somebody who has tried to keep kids silent in restaurants, shops, cafes, Tory rallies and on public transport I know it isn't always easy and you think everyone is tut-tutting at you. You really do feel like the worst parent in the world. So I sympathise with the lady in question.

However what struck me is the quote that she gave to the Beeb: "I felt very embarrassed and upset"

Well, how did this story get into the news in the first place? I am assuming they rang the BBC to shame the bus company. But if you are really embarrassed and upset why would you put this tale of woe into the public domain where people around the world know the situation you are in. Maybe if she was that embarrassed and upset, they should have known that there are somethings that are best not shared.

My Night Tonight

Tonight I did two meetings at City Hall - firstly to feedback on the new Councillors IT system which is better but still has some problems. Then it was the Waste Working Party. Although I'm not at liberty to say, we recieved some very good news about the way in which AWC has been rolled out and also some very tricky questions to solve in the future. It was a thought provoking meeting really. Odldy enough not a single LibDem Councillor bothered to attend; if the boot was on the other foot they'd be shouting about a lack of interest from other parties (I have blogged before about thier glee when Labour, Tories and Greens don't put down motions at Council) so I wonder why they passed up the chance to have their say on important recycling and waste issues.

Then tonight I have been formulating my questions for the Bus Scrutiny Committee and I focused heavily on the length of total bus journies, the cost of the tickets and the social, economic and educational impact of late buses in the morning. I mean, how many hours of education are lost because of bus lateness? How much productivity in industry and business is thrown away?

Tomorrow I will be at a Scrutiny meeting and then onto the Bowthorpe and Costessey SNAP, 7.30pm at Costessey High School if you'd like to make any points there.

Realities of the Bus Service

Today we had a meeting with the new Managing Director of First Bus and had an interesting conversation about the state of the service in Norwich. The buses are a hot political topic and I defy any councillors (probably nationwide!) not to have complained about the service in their community. Certainly there are lots of problems in Bowthorpe and Earlham - frequency has improved but the 40 min trip to the City and the lack of punctuality are big issues.

However, the first thing that the MD pointed out, quite rightly, is that the bus service is a business not a public service. He said that many routes are not profitable and gave us some stark statistics on the costs of running a service. It was a frank exchange of views and I think the best thing to come from this is a much clearer understanding of each other's positions.

He also let us know about First's customer contract and said that people should complain if they recieve sub-standard service ... and will be compensated.

I was pleased to learn more about the truth behind the bus service and will put the First customer contract on here when I get it to help people out. The MD has also promised to make himself available to local people more. He was clearly a committed and very competent man and I look forward to working with him in the future, as a member of the council bus scrutiny committee.