Held 8th January. PRESENT: 40 members of public. James Freeman, MD First Bus West Of England 2 senior managers. Andy Strong, B&NES Bus officer. West of England Mayor. B&NES leader and other Cllr.
First Bus took the decision on the 179 because they used to have 2 buses running in opposite direction, an hourly service, costing approx. £400K a year to run, but only took £80k in fares. So decided to have only one bus, making it a 2 hour service Mon- Fri. But they are still making a loss.
B&NES confirmed that no other bus company was willing to take on the route, and Arleen aren’t covering their costs on the Saturday service.
Public pointed out that the bus times weren’t adeqaute, also that the withdrawal of the 10 ride ticket ( replaced by either a weekly ticket or using a smart phone) First said that they were willing to tweak times, provided it’s possible. There is a solution to the multi-ticket problem for people who don’t have smart phones etc.
Conclusion that the 179 will close end August and so Parish Councils will have to set up a community bus with some Clutton money, perhaps money from West of England, perhaps as feeder into First Bus services.
Tunley meeting 10th January.
5+ Parish Council working parties meeting on 22nd January in Timsbury to get process going with so far 2 active Timsbury residents.
There was a news item about transport in the West of England’s on points West must have been Monday. Mainly focussed on the new metro bus in Bristol but did include the responsibilities of transport provision across the area.
THanks for that Phillida. The key problem is that WECA is not taking over bus subsidy from B&NES after their cuts. WECA can help with community transport such as what we are planning, but it really seems the end of the road for the 179 as we know it unless there is a sudden change by B&NES in Feb budget which we have told won’t happen, or a change after the local election in May, but whoever is in won’t have the money to chnagethe budgets much. So we have to prepare ourselves with our own.