South Bristol will become a “bus desert” when dozens of subsidised services are cut from April, transport campaigners fear. Vital routes to hospitals, schools, colleges and workplaces are among the 42 being axed across the West of England following last month’s vote by its political leaders to stop supporting most of the region’s loss-making routes.
The warning came as Bristol City Council cabinet member for transport Cllr Don Alexander justified the authority’s refusal to increase the transport levy paid to the combined authority for buses by saying “much of that money would go into the pockets of shareholders” of private operators who run them. That sparked a backlash from opposition Conservative and Green councillors accusing the Labour administration of double standards because it had embarked on joint ventures with companies that would also benefit shareholders, such as Legal & General to develop Temple Island and energy firms Ameresco and Vattenfall for the massive City Leap partnership.
Bus passenger champion David Redgewell told a city council budget scrutiny meeting that the root of the problems that had caused 42 subsidised routes to be withdrawn was that metro mayor Dan Norris had to rely on money from the local councils to keep buses running. He said that although Mr Norris led the region’s transport authority Weca, he did not have precepting powers to raise funds directly from residents, like council tax.
Read more: Bristol and West of England bus cuts: List of services facing axe in April
“This year there is simply not enough funding to cover the cost of providing bus services, which has gone up for First and Stagecoach,” said Mr Redgewell. “However, if we don’t find a solution, 42 buses will be removed from the network on April 1.
“The problem we have in Bristol is that the main links to Southmead Hospital are being cut, including the 17 and the 506. South Bristol becomes a bus desert of any orbital bus services – there will be buses coming from the city centre but there will be no buses crossing South Bristol apart from the Airport Flyer.
“So we lose the 96 from St Annes to Hartcliffe serving South Bristol Hospital and a major school bus for the colleges in Brislington, we also lose the 52 from Bishopsworth into the city centre – that has gone completely, there is no alternative service. The one that’s going to cause the most grief is the one we’re going to lose between Oldbury Court down through Fishponds Road and there will be no bus through Ashley ward in St Pauls or St Werburghs.
“These are some of the poorest communities in the city region. I thought we were in the business of dealing with social inclusion and social poverty?
“If people can’t get around our city region to get to work or school, we have a real problem. I’m extremely concerned.” Cllr Alexander said: “We have not offered to put more money in and I agree with that because so much of it would go towards private operators and their shareholders.
“It wouldn’t be fed back into services at all. We would be investing in a system I don’t support. We did what we could with the money when you consider one of the services costs about £2million a year.
“Our transport levy contribution is £10.2million which also pays for community transport and concessions for the elderly – that leaves £3.5million for Bristol’s subsidised services.” Green Cllr Barry Parsons said his Easton ward was losing the “lifeline” 506 for Southmead Hospital patients.
He said: “Buses are a public good. Like you, I would love many more public services to be owned and managed publicly but that is not the situation we’re in, so this decision right now can only come in the context of a bus market in which private companies are the operators.
'£100m-£150m cost to subsidise'
“This authority contracts with private companies in the course of delivering public services all the time, whether it’s social care or building houses – what’s different about buses?” Cllr Alexander said it would cost £100million to £150million a year to subsidise a great public transport network in the region which was impossible under the current system, so they had to do what they could.
He said the idea of a Weca transport precept could raise that amount but that would be “asking Bristol residents to pay a lot of money to subsidise buses which are not commercial at the moment and they would have to accept that much of that money will go into the pockets of shareholders”.
City council head of finance Denise Murray told the meeting on Thursday, February 2, that Weca’s three unitary authorities – Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset – had agreed a zero increase in the transport levy primarily because there were other available funding sources, such as the £105million Bus Service Improvement Plan grant from the Government for innovative ways to run public transport.
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