Is it time to put up or shut up on bus fees?

What next?: County Council leader Jenny Mein (centre) with architect John Puttick and consultant Jerry Glover recently unveiled new plans for Preston Bus Station. But now a row over new charges has caused controversy.

Preston Bus Station should be flattened and it is time for the county council to sell off its county hall car parks to raise funds.

Those were just two of the most radical solutions proposed by Post readers after reading our report that Preston Bus claims the county council could price operators out of the city’s bus station with a controversial new charging system which starts next month.

The company said it could be forced to consider boycotting the station and look for new bus stops in the city centre if the council insists on introducing a new £1.50 departure charge for each bus leaving the forecourt.The report provoked a wide ranging response.

Reader “Splitpin” said: “I was in favour of saving the bus station but these increase in charges are ridiculous. The current charge equates to approx £14 per day per bay. Assuming a service was every 30 mins on a 10 hour day that would cost £30. In reality it would be at least 10 times that amount. LCC need to back down on this or I agree abandon the bus station it can be easily bypassed.”

Meanwhile “daylight robbery” commented: “The only problems that I can see with bypassing the bus station is the possibility of congestion in some parts of the city centre and the inconvenience to passengers. Obviously the council have not thought this through. If the buses use the bus station then the costs will be passed on via fare increases. If the buses don’t use the bus station then the passengers are inconvenienced.”

And “juliemac” said the company should stop using the bus station if it didn’t like it and stop moaning: “We council-tax payers pay for the bus station to be used by many different bus/coach companies - not just Preston Bus.”