“You really do have too much time on your hands Eric, if you trawl the readers' comments looking for that little snippet. Your party is responsible for messing up the country's finances and cannot be trusted in Leicestershire. I'm voting for Parsons.”

“"We will not be pursuing work-based charging schemes or supporting pay-as-you-drive technologies.

"We have to bear in mind that the Labour Government is keen to introduce these measures, and we may very well be forced into taking unpopular action.

"Conservatives will introduce Smartcards allowing easier and faster travel and will explore their use on train services also.

"We will also introduce technology that will allow individual travel plans to people so they can plan journeys with ease.

"Confusion over timetabling is a major cause on non-take-up of public transport and this is something we are determined to sort out.

"Finally, we will make our school buses safer with extra inspectors and more CCTV."

Funny that, nothing there about cleaning up the dusgusting filth and mess left behind by people on nearly ever bus I travel on.”

“Well said, Paul. Slashing fares is unfortunately not all it takes - there are a large number of people out there who would still not use buses, probably even if you paid them.
Getting buses to move from A to B quicker, making them cleaner, quieter and more comfortable and free from use by criminals is what will get people using them more. So if fares are slashed, where's the revenue going to come from to do all that ?”

“Well, as usual don't expect anything out of it, as soon as elections are gone, so will be the problem... (or at least the will to adress it).
Fact is that most lines are not financially viable although they are perfectly inadequate because of poor service (1 per hour, not running after 6pm or on week ends). The spider hub system bringing all busses to Leicester city centre is also a problem: they suffer of the congestions (of which they are a big part) and it takes forever if you want to go from the north/south to the east or west since you have to go in the centre to then go outside the centre. A multiple circles around Leicester of variopus diameters with 6-7 centre/outside lines to ensure interconnectivity would in my opinion a much more efficient system providing that you pay one single fare no matter how many changes you have to make on your journey.”

“It doesn't state it here, but I'm wondering how much research has gone into this by the 3 main parties. Have they actually surveyed the county on what changes we would like to see in our transport system, or, as usual, is this another 'we know best' idea?

I'm not interested in 'flashing signs' and '20mph outside of schools', as I don't have kids. As for train services, shall I mention the Ivanhoe line??

What does 'better bus services' actually mean? As an example: I've worked in Bardon for 11 years and despite several peitions for a regular bus route through the estate, it keeps getting turned down, saying that not enough people would use it. If there was a bus from Coalville to Bardon that got me to work on time, (not the 1 every hour job that skirts the estate currently) then of course I'd go to work on the bus. Do councillors realise how many people work on this estate? Do they care? Probably not, they'll just keep on telling us to use buses that don't get us to where we want to go, when we want to get there.

It's just the same old, same old...empty promises before a looming election.”

“"Liberal Democrat spokesman councillor Sarah Hill said getting more people out of cars and on to buses and trains was key"

A definite vote winner that one, lets "make" people use public transport. The Lib Dems policy on transport is one of the single biggest reasons people won't vote for them.”

“One of the reasons why the city is congested is that the plethora of traffic lights appear to have had their sequences designed to prevent through traffic flow.
The buses should have a cheap day ticket, usable on any service, not the bloated offering as at present.”

“Do any of these political idoits travel regularly on public transport??? Leicesters transport infrastructure is a shambles and well behind the times. 2nd most congested city in the UK behind London and 2nd most traffic signals per square mile in the UK.
IF they want to attract more people to public transport, there should be more park and rides and before that 24hr bus and taxi lanes.”

“Promises, promises.... pity none of them will ever happen, all swept under the carpet 1 second after the end of the election.”

“David Parsons has consistently opposed the re-opening of The National Forest Rail Line, undermined the City Tram Proposals which could offer a new line to service Thurmaston & Syston, ignored our call for new stations on the incredibly succesful Ivanhoe train line. His administration have messed up the finances for the Birstall Park & Ride scheme. He increased school bus fares from £60 to £240 per annum. His total lack of commitment to Public Transport is proven by his past policy failures. He has not even asked the East Midlands Train & Bus operators if they willing t0 co-operate on a cross service travel-card before making an annoucnement which he is unlikely to be able to deliver!”