MR R B Smith (Letters, February 18) suggests the people of Shadsworth and Pringle Street, Blackburn, should demand the return of the 49A bus down Lower Audley.

Service 49A has not run since June, 2002 and disappeared as part of one of the biggest consultation exercises ever undertaken by a bus company in this area.

The result was a very high frequency bus service to Shadsworth designed by the people of Shadsworth, for the people of Shadsworth.

On-bus surveys showed that very few people ever boarded or alighted in Pringle Street and that regular customers preferred a more direct route into the town centre.

Such was the strength of public feeling at the time that the company received only two letters of complaint compared to the phenomenal growth in the number of customers using the service.

Blackburn Transport will always do its best to provide the best possible service but we cannot run a bus service along every street in the borough on the off-chance that someone might one day get on it.

MICHAEL MORTON, Managing Director, Blackburn Transport.