Plight of residents hit by cut to vital Northampton bus service shared in letters of support for Chronicle campaign

Hundreds of residents have been impacted by the loss of the No 19 Violet Uno bus.

Michelle Robinson used to catch the No 19 Violet Uno bus from home on Kingsley Road to visit friends, go shopping and take her son swimming.

But since the bus' route was cut to omit her road in early August, she says she and her family have been stuck in the house.

Sign the Chronicle & Echo's petition to reinstate the No 19 Violet Uno bus on its original route once an hour.

Sign the Chronicle & Echo petition to reinstate the No 19 Violet Uno bus on its original route once an hour.

She said: "We have been majorly affected by the loss of these buses as we don't drive.

"We used to take our little boy swimming every week. But we can't do that anymore. Taxis in Northampton are too expensive and would cost us over Â£10 a trip anytime we go anywhere.

"It has had such an impact on me as I suffer from arthritis. Even if there is a bus stop half a mile away [in Kingsley Park Terrace] it's too far.

"Any form of reinstatement would be very helpful."

The petition has had over 580 responses in just one week.

She is just one of the hundreds of Northampton residents who have lost their lifeline with the town since the No 19 Violet bus was revised by bus company Uno.

Over 550 people have signed the Chronicle & Echo's petition to reinstate the vital No 19 Violet Uno bus service on its original route once an hour and give isolated residents their lifeline to visit friends, go shopping and see the doctors.

It includes 480 responses to the online petition, 98 written replies to our newspaper appeal and 10 letters of support for the lost bus route.

Uno operates its buses for the students and staff of the University of Northampton and allows the public to ride as well.

But the No 19 route was revised to cut out Kingsley Road, Kingsthorpe Grove, Boughton Green Road, Links View and most of Moulton ahead of the opening of the Waterside campus.

Since the revision on August 5, dozens of elderly residents have contacted the Chronicle to say they have become "prisoners in their own homes".

One resident wrote in a letter: "My 85-year-old mother used to visit me on the Uno bus once a week. She no longer visits me and she also hardly visits Northampton.

"She told me the other day that she now feels isolated from me since the route was cancelled.

"Even if it ran once or twice a day it would make all the difference to mine and my mother's independence."