On Trains & Buses

After looking as if they were going to have more savings than expected, the decision to reduce funding for buses in North Yorkshire is being reviewed at a meeting this coming Friday. There apparently was the sort of silo thinking that results in the passing of costs from one department to another that negates any savings in the first place. Hopefully, enough concerned members of the public can attend to make their feelings known. One service did survive on consultation but there have been saving reductions elsewhere and there now are concerns about a reduction in the independence of the elderly that forces them into care homes. That, of course, could increase council costs too so any saving on bus funding would be a false economy.

At the end of March, Monmouthshire County Council is taking over bus service between Chepstow and Monmouth via Trellech from Chepstow Classic at the end of March. Thankfully, the timetable is not changing but they are mounting a consultation regarding where to take things from here. Hopefully, we are talking about innovations and not cuts like other places.

Even if they could have been worse, the cuts agreed by North Yorkshire County Council still don’t look pretty. They got £2m of cuts when they were trying for £1.1m. Were we too weak in opposing them or how else did this happen? Are bus users seen as a soft touch for cuts like this too? Maybe we are seen just as a special interest group in comparison to others.

Lancashire has been having a consultation on cutting some of the £8m per annum that they spend on funding bus services. It ends this Friday (2014-01-17) after being open for more than a month. The survey is online so now’s anyone’s chance to ensure that nothing really important is lost. At least, they are planning on keeping most of the funding in place unlike other places but that leaves no room for complacency.

Staffordshire County Council is conducting a review of subsidised bus services in the Stone area of the county. On their website, there is a fairly open-ended form to complete that lists the affected services and you have until tomorrow to complete it. Only by doing so, you can prevent something very drastic from happening.

The two lines that are affected are the Cambrian Coast one, between Machynlleth and Pwllheli, and problems between Llanelli and Carmarthen are disrupting services between Swansea and Pembrokeshire. The first of these is set to be shut for a few weeks because of the damage and Arriva Trains Wales have issued timetables for rail replacement bus services: Machynlleth to Pwllheli and Pwllheli to Ysgol Dyffryn Ardudwy. The West Wales should open earlier (16:00 on next Wednesday, 2014-01-15). In the meantime, they have shared a timetable for the replacement bus service operating in both directions between Llanelli and Carmarthen.

It has come to my attention that we have had Arriva Trains Wales around for 10 years and I didn’t think it was that long ago when they took over from both National Express’ Wales and Borders and First North Western. Clearly, it was so they are offering season ticket holders the chance of a £10 return ticket to anywhere in Wales on any day and at any time between 2014-01-05 and 2014-03-29, apart from when Six Nations rugby matches are taking place in Cardiff. With all the recent talk about increases in the price of season tickets, this is an eye-catching offer that only can be taken up at a train station over the next few months.

Worcestershire County County Council wants to save £3m on bus service support and is having a consultation on this. The proposals look very severe so, in the associated questionnaire, the list of affected bus services is a long one. Anyone that wishes to feedback on this needs to do it by 2014-01-17 and that’s only Friday week so there isn’t long left.

Cumbria County Council recently astonished me by stating that it has no statutory responsibility for funding socially necessary bus services when I thought otherwise. Other local authorities thankfully do admit to the need to ensure access to public bus services. Cumbria County Council, however, seems to be proposing the complete withdrawal of bus service subsidies altogether and going for community transport instead. That sounds extreme so I hope that those very much affected will give their views on the proposals before 2014-01-20, which only is next Monday week.

Thanks go to Stephen Down of Bus Services in York for supplying information on services in North Yorkshire that have been added to the Trunk Services and Local Services listings of assorted bus routes for England. Otherwise, the North York Moors would not have got the coverage that they deserve and that for the Yorkshire Dales was boosted deservedly too.