But the Murrumbidgee Local Health District’s (MLHD) decision to retire the bus may just be the thin edge of the wedge.

Health is a prohibitively expensive business, soaking up about a third of the entire state budget.

As such, health bureaucrats become very adept at slashing overheads.

And political parties aren’t in the business of pork barrelling in safe seats like ours.

The MLHD claims the hole left by the loss of the bus will be replaced by other MLHD vehicles and community transport.

But former mayor Dal Eisenhauer, an indefatigable champion for our city, still holds concerns.

He rightly believes we should make a public noise whenever a government service is being taken away, regardless of the spin put on it.

The logic being, if we let them take away one thing, they’ll be more willing to take away more in future.

The MLHD may well be using the bus’s age – it’s a 2007 model –as an excuse to put it out to pasture.

If that’s the case, then it should be replaced by a new one.

The health service has also argued the numbers using the bus are negligible. 

But the benefit an elderly patient gets by leaving hospital for a few hours is hard to put a dollar value on.