Act on privatised bus services that are failing us all so badly

The Better Buses for South Yorkshire campaign is really pleased to have worked with Ronnie Steele and local residents to win a partial solution to the bus cuts on Broadway.

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has found funding for a new service, number 33, a tendered route paid for by the public.

This will partially end the isolation of the Broadway residents, although it will run only hourly between 10am and 2pm.

But Stagecoach have behaved disgracefully throughout, showing no concern at all about the effects of cutting the 43 and 44 routes.

When invited to one of the public protest meetings Stagecoach replied that they were too busy to attend.

They have not had the courtesy to meet with the Broadway residents to receive their petition, signed by hundreds of affected people, calling on them to reconsider their decision.

That’s why on Monday there was a ceremonial rally on Broadway to post those petitions to Stagecoach which Channel Four came to film – over 70 residents joined this event.

The quicker the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority moves forward on the franchising process, as Manchester and West Yorkshire have already done, the better for all of us.

That will give the transport authority control over routes and timetables, and put an end to the power of the private companies to make these decisions without considering the needs of local communities.

We are committed to campaigning for more government funding for South Yorkshire buses to bring us up to the spending ability of other areas.

We are also determined to get rid of the privatised system which fails us so badly.