Weston LibDems speak out on bus cuts.
Cllr John Crockford Hawley, Chair of the Place Panel, has spoken out about the latest cuts to services announced by first bus.
We are all disappointed to read that First has decided to withdraw some of its rural bus service in the autumn. Even more disappointing is the sudden manner in which this news broke. First doesn't engage with local councils before making this sort of statement since its priority is to shareholders rather than to the travelling public. I believe the rot set in when Mrs Thatcher de-regulated and privatised the bus networks throughout the UK, leaving the Mayoralty of London as the only local authority with statutory regulatory powers over local transport. Public transport cannot survive using this now antiquated and disproven commercial model
District and Parish Councillors in North Somerset and Somerset along with their Integrated transport officers are horrified at this decision by First to withdraw services, especially since here in North Somerset we have put so much effort and time into providing better facilities for passengers to use the network and will be working hard with government grants to further improve infrastructure.
We know there are massive post-Brexit driver shortages and passenger numbers haven't fully recovered post-Covid. We also know that many people who had been commuting to work five days a week are no longer doing so as work from home becomes 'the new norm'. I can appreciate that for isolated communities the loss of reliable public transport isn't good. Not everybody uses a car and if we are to achieve anything near our goal in addressing climate change then a reliable public transport network is going to become increasingly important.
Councils have very limited powers to undertake bus operations and are forbidden to compete where a commercial operator holds sway.
As Chairman of North Somerset Council's Place Scrutiny Panel I will be calling a special meeting where councillors and officers will be able to raise their concerns and to which I am inviting representatives of the bus operators to explain their decisions.