Disgusting Council’s anger after Stagecoach cut rural bus services
CIVIC chiefs have hit out at Stagecoach’s “bloody disgusting” decision to cut bus routes used by some of Gloucestershire’s most vulnerable communities.
The bus company has registered its intent to cancel and change some of the bus services they provided to the Traffic Commissioner.
Gloucestershire County Council says the bus company has made the move to prioritise urban and commercial routes leaving rural communities isolated.
This means bus services delivering more than 300,000 journeys a year will be cancelled, preventing people from accessing work, school, hospital appointments and leisure activities.
The council says it has worked tirelessly to try and ensure this did not happen by attempting to work in partnership with Stagecoach and is still working hard to find alternative providers for the bus services being cancelled.
Education, Skills and Bus Transport cabinet member Philip Robinson (C, Mitcheldean) said he was hugely disappointed that Stagecoach have placed commercial interests over the needs of many of their rural customers.
“Reinstating the cancelled routes with new providers is a priority for us but this is a very challenging and difficult market and while we will make every effort to find alternatives this will be a far from easy path.”
The cuts affect the Forest of Dean particularly badly with Cinderford and Lydney losing their town services.
County councillor Graham Morgan (L, Cinderford) said: “They just don’t think about people. It’s bloody disgusting. They’ve hit the most vulnerable in society.
“Cinderford is on a hillside, anyone who has a job to walk is going to be isolated. The whole thing has been a total disgrace since they deregulated it years ago under Thatcher.”
Meanwhile, council chairman Alan Preest (C, Lydney) said the situation is a mess and it is happening across the whole country.
He said: “It was always going to happen.
“Stagecoach have been bullyboys over the years. They pushed out the local operators and there we are in a mess now.
“We have got to take our hats off to organisations like Dial-a-ride in Lydney who are trying their best to make up for this.”
Liberal Democrat group leader on the county council Ben Evans (Churchdown) said the bus cuts were a disaster for large swathes of the county.
He said: “Serious questions will need to be answered by the Conservative administration as to how they let this situation escalate to this point. Environmentally speaking, reducing bus routes is taking a huge backward step to reducing reliance on cars.”
The council says market testing has already been completed and a full procurement will be underway shortly, but they say finding replacement operators will be difficult. They provide Stagecoach and other bus providers with £10 million a year of funding for subsidised routes and reimbursement for use of the concessionary fares bus pass.
Stagecoach West says their decision has been made after an extensive review of the resource requirements of the network balanced against the number of passengers the changes will affect.
The first changes will be effective in the Forest of Dean from November 20, 2022 followed by further changes in Cheltenham from November 27, 2022.
Stagecoach West managing director Rachel Geliamassi said: “We know how important local bus networks are in connecting people to jobs, education, and skills, as well as ensuring access to key public services.
“Most of all, our customers want the certainty of knowing that the services we show in our timetable will be running reliably each day.
“The continuing impact of the pandemic on sickness levels, as well as the economy-wide skills challenge has meant that some services have had to be cancelled at short notice.
“More widely, the pandemic has accelerated changes in when and how people travel.
“We have completed an extensive network review and engaged with Gloucestershire County Council to plan a new network that we can deliver consistently, day in, day out.
“Most services won’t change, but we have had to make some difficult decisions to match our resources to the current level of demand.
“This will mean we can deliver a more reliable service for customers and make it easier for them to plan their journeys.”