Metro mayor Dan Norris is urging residents to have their say ahead of more bus cuts this autumn. The West of England mayor is holding a series of public meetings next week called Big Choices on Buses to get the views of users about which routes are essential and also non-passengers to find out what would make them use public transport.
It comes amid a major review of the region’s network over the summer after operators indicated they would axe more services from October when the Government’s funding throughout the pandemic ends at a time of fewer passengers, soaring costs and a national driver shortage. Earlier this month, First West of England managing director Doug Claringbold apologised to South Gloucestershire scrutiny councillors for “unacceptable” levels of cancellations and agreed passengers needed to know buses would turn up.
He said this would mean new timetables from October based on reliable services and that the company should “not try to do too much” because of dwindling resources compared to current services. Mr Claringbold warned this would involve “difficult decisions” and that new ways of working were needed, such as flexible times and routes.
Read more: First Bus boss says sorry for 'unacceptable' cancellations
Labour mayor Mr Norris, who heads the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), told the council meeting on July 6 that the abrupt ending of covid funding from Whitehall was a “cliff-edge” and that “there will be cuts to services – I’m not going to hide the reality of that”. Now he is holding four evening meetings from Monday to Thursday, August 1-4, to hear from residents and is encouraging community leaders to hold their own consultation events too to feed into the network review.
The meetings will look at individual bus routes but also explore bigger questions about “trade-offs and compromises” that need to be made. Mr Norris said: “I will not shy away from the challenges we face on buses right now.
“There will be more cuts as government covid funding comes to end in October. I'm completely open about that, and this is why I want to have a big conversation about the big choices we face as a region right now.
“How do we deploy the limited numbers of bus drivers in the region? Do people want more frequent or more reliable services?
“I need to get a sense of how local people feel on questions like these and to hear their thoughts and ideas. Crucially, there are no right or wrong answers here.
“We need to ensure what we do is value for money for West of England taxpayers and come up with new solutions on helping more local people to make the switch to buses, not least to tackle the climate emergency. So please do get involved with our big conversation about buses this August. I need your help.”
Weca recently secured £105million from the Government for its Bus Service Improvement Plan but the money will not kick in until next year and must be used for new services and innovations rather than propping up existing routes. Mr Norris has said this means residents will have to be patient for services to improve in the long term but that it will be “bumpy in the shorter term”.
The Big Choices on Buses meetings are being held from 6.30pm to 8.30pm next week at Yate parish hall on Monday, Southdown Methodist Church in The Hollow, Bath, on Tuesday, St Augustine’s church in East Dundry Road, Whitchurch, on Wednesday and Brook Way Activity Centre in Bradley Stoke on Thursday. More information is here.
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