Ring and Ride under threat as 20 buses need replacing

£1.25M MUST BE FOUND TO BUY NEW VEHICLES OR SERVICE COULD BE SLASHED

A DOOR-TO-DOOR bus service for vulnerable and disabled passengers could be slashed again as transport bosses look to save cash.

Twenty buses used by Ring and Ride need to be replaced. But if the £1.25m can’t be found, transport bosses may have to share vehicles with health, social and community transport groups.

The solution was among a number of options - including buying or leasing new buses - discussed at a Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) committee meeting.

Members of the Ring and Ride board have said they hope the cash will be found, but warned the alternative could signal the death knell for the service.

It follows a series of blows to the service for those who find it difficult to use regular public transport due to disability or mobility issues. In August, a new £1 fare will be introduced for Concessionary Plus pass holders - with severe walking difficulties or registered deaf or blind - who up to now have travelled for free.

In June this year, standard single fares were increased from £1.20 to £1.50.

In 2016, tougher eligibility criteria were introduced to cope with ‘funding cuts, the ageing population and better alternative public transport.’

These money-saving strategies have helped reduce the number of Ring and Ride journeys from 750,000 in 2014/15 to nearly 508,000 this year.

In 2018/19, with a budget of £5.3m, £300,000 savings must be found.

Now, transport bosses have turned their attention to the ageing fleet.

Roger Jones, a councillor on the board of Greater Manchester Accessible Transport Ltd (GMATL) and on the TfGM Committee, said: “Every year as local authority budgets are cut, so is Ring and Ride.

“But there’s a difference between cutting a service and ending a service all together.

“If we stop replacing old vehicles with new ones that would signal the beginning of the end of the service because we couldn’t carry on.

“Because we’ve lost 50 per cent of funding over the last seven years we have to make these awful decisions on a day to day basis.”

Describing the service as ‘essential,’ he said they had reached ‘crunch point,’ adding: “It should be given priority and those vehicles should be replaced, whether by purchase or by leasing. We take telephone bookings on an hourly basis every day of the week - we can’t be hunting around for vehicles. If this is a viable service - and we think it is the capital needs to be found.”

He added: “Our message is clear we want to find the best way to fund these buses. We want Andy Burnham and leaders to agree with us that it’s a priority.

“We will be able to keep the service running if there’s the political will to do it.”

Doreen Dickinson, chairman of Ring and Ride and a Conservative member of the transport committee, insisted the service would survive, adding: “Officers can decide what they want to put on papers but not replacing the fleet is not an option for political bodies.”

Seventeen new vehicles have already been purchased using borrowings and grants.

But 20 buses - relied on by 35pc of the service or 330,000 journeys a year - are due for renewal in August.