KEN Stephens writes (Star, March 5) regarding the Arriva slogan “you wait ages for a bus and then 36 come along at once” and comments that bus travel is so costly.

I work for Stagecoach and regularly drive the 10A, which both Arriva and ourselves operate.

Ken needs to consider a number of points. Both are public companies with shareholders (myself being a Stagecoach one) to keep content while providing a service that potential passengers choose. To operate the service at a combined six-minute interval must be commercially viable otherwise neither would.

There’s also a desire to coax people on to the bus and leave the car at home, hence the frequency interval and new vehicles. and it’s worth noting the 36 purchased by Arriva are for use on not only the 10A but also the 10 and 10B. Ken comments he sees two and three buses running together and feels the service frequency should be decreased to every 12 minutes.

Sadly, buses run together for many reasons: traffic, passenger loadings, road works etc. He fails to understand if three buses run together on a ‘six-minute road’ that increases the time passengers wait at stops along the route. If the 10A became a '12-minute road’ and three buses ran together passengers could wait more than 30 minutes. So would this really offer an “excellent service” like he suggests?

Finally, he says bus services are costly. I spent three years working for Stagecoach based in Exeter and Exmouth. The cost of using the 10A from Liverpool to St Helens is £3 (£4 for an all-day ticket).

By comparison Stagecoach service 57 from Exmouth to Exeter is £4.30, £7.20 a return or £7.50 per all-day ticket. Local bus passengers must begin to realise that actually they have never had it so good.

James Owen, Rainhill (details supplied)