Bus campaign calls for change (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Bus campaign calls for change

2:00pm Monday 30th January 2012 in News By Emily Roberts

A CARE worker is leading a campaign to try to persuade the county council to reinstate evening buses in the Basingstoke area.

Hampshire County Council (HCC) agreed to cut support for loss-making bus services last year, with many in Basingstoke and Deane stopping after 9.30pm.

Carol Walker, from Tobago Close, Popley, who is leading the campaign, has conducted a survey to find out public opinion on the matter.

She said: “The conclusion was unanimous. No one can describe a town as ‘dynamic’ when it turns into a ghost town after 8pm in the evening. Business is suffering and jobs are at risk.”

Miss Walker, a 51-year-old care worker, spoke to restaurants and bars in the town, who said business has been quiet in the evening since the cuts, in October last year.

The mother-of-one has been handing out petitions for people to sign in support of the campaign.

Steven Connolly, centre director of Festival Place, said the shopping centre is aware of the concerns about the reduction in buses and added: “We would encourage all forms of transport to be available throughout the day and evening for both visitors to Festival Place and for evening-time workers. We are raising our concerns about the cuts in the bus services with HCC.”

Basingstoke North county councillor Jane Frankham said 600 people have signed up to the call for a reversal of the night-time cuts.

However, Andrew Dyer, managing director of Stagecoach south, told The Gazette that the evening services are not viable to run without subsidy.

He added: “The community thinks that Stagecoach has cut the bus service, but it’s actually the county council.

“In April, the Government is dramatically increasing fuel taxes for bus companies. Bus companies will pay an extra 8p a litre for fuel. So in the face of even bigger cost increases, it would be unfair of me to promise improvements in commercial bus routes.

“Sadly, we can’t run the evening services without subsidy from the council. We appreciate that people, like shift workers need late evening services, but the number of people travelling doesn’t cover the cost of running the service.”

Councillor Mel Kendal, executive member for environment and transport at HCC, said: “Our surveys confirmed that the most used evening services are those before 9.30pm and this information was backed by evidence held by the bus operators. The services cater for most users.”

He said the council had to make “difficult decisions” last year because funding to support bus services was “reduced greatly.”

He added: “Saving on the least used services that run after 9.30pm means that vital daytime services can be maintained for communities that, otherwise, would not have a transport link at all.

“We are not anticipating any additional Government funding for bus services in our 2012-13 budget, so we would only be able to release money to support new services by withdrawing support for existing services.

“We would be willing, however, to work with Festival Place and other businesses to arrange additional services if they were offering to fund them.”