Sir, – I understand that the Waterlooville to Petersfield rail-link bus service is to be withdrawn from December 13, despite it being part of the South West Trains franchise commitment. They seem to have got round this obligation by funding extra journeys on bus route 37.

When this hourly Monday to Saturday link was launched in December 2007, it was claimed as "a perfect link" from the Waterlooville, Cowplain and Horndean area to the frequent train services north from Petersfield. By attracting rail commuters and off-peak passengers it was also hoped to reduce pressures on car parking at Petersfield station and in the surrounding streets.

Unfortunately, publicity in rail timetables and at bus stops was inadequate and the promised facility to buy rail tickets on the bus from January 2008 was delayed for months. We also had the farce, which continued for almost a year, that the announcements on the trains referred to a rail-link bus to 'Stretton' rather than Waterlooville. As a result, it was perhaps hardly surprising that few passengers used the bus, especially outside peak hours. It was also not clear that non-rail passengers could use the bus, so it is only recently that off-peak use has increased.

On behalf of Petersfield Tomorrow, I raised all these points with South West Trains in five letters between February and November 2008 and offered to help with a passenger survey which they proposed in November 2098. Having received no reply or response to any of these letters, I wrote directly to the then SWT managing director in May this year. In his prompt reply, he said he shared my disappointment with the bus-link loadings, pointing out that most passengers were local bus users.

Even though Stagecoach run both the local trains and buses to Waterlooville, I fear that our unco-ordinated public transport system fails to think of the mutual benefits of bus/rail links.

In the meantime, Stagecoach have diverted the hourly 37 bus (formerly 38) to Havant rather than to Portsmouth and extended the journey time to Waterlooville to 45 minutes, so that it is hardly likely to attract rail commuters. The rail-link bus did provide a 24-minute journey between Petersfield and Waterlooville and could be used with connecting routes to reach Queen Alexandra Hospital.

Petersfield Tomorrow had hoped to press for a much better bus link to the hospital as part of the county council's forthcoming Petersfield Town Access Plan, but as this has again been deferred, we will lose a potentially valuable hospital link before any new plans can be considered.

How can we be expected to reduce traffic congestion by using public transport, if the public transport does not exist?

Tony Shaw, Kimbers, Petersfield