Bridgwater county councillor Dave Loveridge has spoken out against plans for further cuts to bus services in Somerset. He says the elderly, people who are ill and those in low paid jobs will suffer.
The Tory-led council has unveiled proposals for cuts that would affect 24 routes across the county. Eight services would be withdrawn altogether. In many other cases, the subsidy for Saturday journeys could be taken away, meaning that eventually, Saturday buses on these routes would be likely to disappear.
Dave Loveridge said: “When are the Tories going to realise that they are cutting a vital service to the elderly, infirm and low paid workers. Cutting this funding will cause the bus companies to reduce the service and cause hardship to those who rely on buses for shopping, going to hospital and getting to and from work.
These cuts are just another sign that this Tory run council don’t give a fig for the people who use these services, as their voters use their big cars and 4 x 4s. The low paid workers and elderly are as far from their thoughts as the moon. “
Bus routes could be axed
Among the routes that could lose the subsidy on Saturdays are the Bridgwater Town Service (6); Bridgwater-Street (19); Taunton-Dulverton (25) and Shepton Mallet-Glastonbury (669). Buses that could be axed altogether include Langley Marsh-Wellington (10) and Donyatt-Crewkerne (9).
Somerset County Council is carrying out a consultation about the proposals. The full list of proposed cuts can be found at:
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/have-your-say/consultations/bus-service-changes/
I would like to see Labour promising to return bus services to public ownership (local or national) and to increase spending on them. This would definitely help to win votes from the kind of people who have given up on Labour. Calling for better regulation does not address the problem: cuts to public spending that Ed Balls has no wish to reverse. The privatisation of bus transport has been a disaster for bus users. Somerset is one of the worst counties in Britain for bus services. Also, bus transport is better for fighting global warming than car use.
Yet agan we are seeing the fruits of prvatisation and de-regulation sown by thatcher and her cronies, Tony Blair should have taken action to change this situation but he sat on his hands for all the time he was in power. We now need Labour to properly regulate bus services and stop the waste of competition and ensure that bus operators run a proper public service. At the moment the area between Bridgwater and Barnstaple bounded by Taunton, Wellington and Tiverton is a bus free zone after 7pm. Bus operators should NOT be allowed to hold us to ransom in this fashion – more regualtion is needed and it is needed NOW !