the problem with what you are saying is people do need buses, I myself have a car but with the parking situation in Stafford and the lack of respect by traffic wardens I regularly come into Stafford. what is wrong with supporting bus services that need help, if it means people can get ou of there houses & go where they wan to they pay there taxes. Nobody ever complains about the vast amount of money spent on education whereas a lot of good does come from it, there are vast area of education where the money is just wasted.
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Bus service changes
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It should be run as efficiently as possible to minimise waste there isn't the demand to support the level of service currently being provided out of rushhour. Im not saying give no support. Just that the service should match demand. And be run as efficiently as possible to minimise cost to the taxpayer.
The Hawk
Well-Known Forumite
Very broadly speaking daytime 'town' services are run commercially and are not subsidised by the County Council. Any cuts to these are likely to be because the operator no longer regards the current level of service as commercially viable.
Subsidised services have, in the past, tended to be rural and evening services, that would not run at all, were it not for the subsidies. We have already seen cuts to many of the evening services. Do not be surprised if daytime services also start to see significant cuts next.
So we have a combination of operators deeming more and more services commercially unviable and a County Council been asked to consider supporting more and more services, whilst reducing its overall level of support.
Where will this end? Well counties such as Oxfordshire have ended ALL subsidies for buses. If Staffordshire County Council did that then we would probably end up with a limited daytime service on a few key routes, with no, or very few, rural and evening services.
Outside of London, we have a nation of a car owning taxpayers who, mostly, see bus subsidies as an unnecessary expense, and a government and councils who are happy to oblige. Result: sections of the community (in particular the young, disabled and elderly) unable to get to and from work, shops, medical centres etc.
By the way, I speak as a car owner / driver who is fed up of seeing a few pence shaved off the tax on fuel and my income tax reduced, whilst sections of our community are being completely screwed. Its certainly not what I voted for.
Subsidised services have, in the past, tended to be rural and evening services, that would not run at all, were it not for the subsidies. We have already seen cuts to many of the evening services. Do not be surprised if daytime services also start to see significant cuts next.
So we have a combination of operators deeming more and more services commercially unviable and a County Council been asked to consider supporting more and more services, whilst reducing its overall level of support.
Where will this end? Well counties such as Oxfordshire have ended ALL subsidies for buses. If Staffordshire County Council did that then we would probably end up with a limited daytime service on a few key routes, with no, or very few, rural and evening services.
Outside of London, we have a nation of a car owning taxpayers who, mostly, see bus subsidies as an unnecessary expense, and a government and councils who are happy to oblige. Result: sections of the community (in particular the young, disabled and elderly) unable to get to and from work, shops, medical centres etc.
By the way, I speak as a car owner / driver who is fed up of seeing a few pence shaved off the tax on fuel and my income tax reduced, whilst sections of our community are being completely screwed. Its certainly not what I voted for.
Lucy
Well-Known Forumite
There's 4 buses a day in our village. 1 is a school service so that will probably continue, but if the others went it's cutting off a real lifeline.
My parents, whilst living on a number of decent bus routes, rely on these services completely as neither drive any longer. if you track this thread back you'll see that every time a competitor starts a route up (unsubsidised), Aviva add a service back in to quash the competition. That suggests there is a market to me...
My parents, whilst living on a number of decent bus routes, rely on these services completely as neither drive any longer. if you track this thread back you'll see that every time a competitor starts a route up (unsubsidised), Aviva add a service back in to quash the competition. That suggests there is a market to me...
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
I remember standing by the old library as a convoy of eleven buses went past - seven of them had a single passenger each and the other four had only the driver on board.
There was also the continual changing of times to get 'your' bus to be in front of the opposition and Hoover up all the fares.
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
When i lived in the place i mentioned some moments ago, there were four buses a week - to Chepstow and back on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Mind you, i was once stuck in a town for four days until the truck driver had enough passengers to make the journey worth his while.
arthur
Nixon Garden Neatness
I rely on the bus service to get me to work and to anywhere else I need to go. I don’t drive due to health reasons but I still work and pay taxes. I campaigned the last two times that the bus services were restructured and cut and got them reinstated on the routes I needed and offered advice and assistance to others to use in their campaigns.
Local transport authorities must secure the provision of appropriate services to meet public transport requirements. In practice this means that where it is socially necessary to have a bus service, but the bus operators will not run a bus commercially, local authorities step in and subsidise a bus service or part of a bus service
The council should consider the impacts on vulnerable groups before a decision to cut routes.
In the Three Rivers case the court found that local transport authorities had a duty to 1) to identify public transport requirements which would not otherwise be met and then 2) once identified, to secure what is appropriate. Also they are entitled to take into account the funds available
Each local transport authority has to have a Local Transport Plan (LTP). It is a good idea to get hold of this, and check to see if the bus cuts will undermine the plan.
The way that government supports bus services in England is currently being reformed through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) system.
Local transport authorities must secure the provision of appropriate services to meet public transport requirements. In practice this means that where it is socially necessary to have a bus service, but the bus operators will not run a bus commercially, local authorities step in and subsidise a bus service or part of a bus service
The council should consider the impacts on vulnerable groups before a decision to cut routes.
In the Three Rivers case the court found that local transport authorities had a duty to 1) to identify public transport requirements which would not otherwise be met and then 2) once identified, to secure what is appropriate. Also they are entitled to take into account the funds available
Each local transport authority has to have a Local Transport Plan (LTP). It is a good idea to get hold of this, and check to see if the bus cuts will undermine the plan.
The way that government supports bus services in England is currently being reformed through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) system.
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
Personally. i don't quite understand why public transport in 'the regions' doesn't work in the same way that Transport For London works.
Identify the need, specify the service requirements, offer to tender the fulfilment of the aforementioned.
If somebody wants it, they get it.
If nobody wants it, tweak it until somebody does.
Identify the need, specify the service requirements, offer to tender the fulfilment of the aforementioned.
If somebody wants it, they get it.
If nobody wants it, tweak it until somebody does.
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
Stafford Newsletter Bus Depot story
Looks like the 3 service is gone and there's a reduced 1 service as AndyST17 has linked to above. The 76 service will be no more as well.
Looks like the 3 service is gone and there's a reduced 1 service as AndyST17 has linked to above. The 76 service will be no more as well.
kyoto49
Well-Known Forumite
Whilst I completely agree with your sentiment, I do wonder which land you live in, as it's clearly cloud cuckoo land or somewhere!!! Sadly the only reason bus services operate in modern day Britain is to make a profit - blame the Tories for this! No profit, no bus service, it's as simple as that, and no amount of customer complaints or social necessity will change this, no matter how much lip service is paid to these things. Other countries in Europe seem to manage to provide bus services to even the most rural back waters no matter how low demand, but then clearly they genuinely do care for social necessity rather than profit. We recently went cycling in the arse end of Hungary and every hour the small village we visited had a bus service to the local town, even though the twice we used it only had 3 passengers. For us 3 it was invaluable!
Sadly transport policy in the UK continues to focus completely on the car rather than public transport and profit is the only motivator. Having said all of that, if the people of Stafford used the bus service it would make more profit and the services would remain. Seems to me that the good people of WIldwood would rather sit in traffic on Radford Bank than use the over-priced bus service, and that's completely understandable. From where I live by the Common it costs £4.60 to get a bus to town and back, daylight robbery if you ask me, so it's no wonder people choose other options - mainly the car!
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wildwood
Well-Known Forumite
No Wildwood service - I can see why. 20 years ago you'd wait for a bus and it'd packed full. The other day, I waited for it, saw it do the whole loop of Wildwood and on arrival outside the coop it had picked up noone. It probably cost more in fuel than it cost me to go down to town on my own.