Following queries about local bus services raised at the previous Rushey Mead Community Meeting, an officer from Transport Strategy will be present. Members of the public will also be able to find out about the work of the Bus Users’ Panel.
Minutes:
The Chair explained that at the previous Rushey Mead Community Meeting, concerns had been raised relating to the First Bus route number 21 and 21A which no longer served Peebles Way and the Troon Way area of Rushey Mead. Mr Steve Zanker, General Manager, East Midlands, First Group, and Julian Heubeck, Public Transport Co-ordinator had therefore been invited to the meeting to explain the current situation.
Steve Zanker explained that there had been a bus link from Rushey Mead to Gateway College, but this route had been serviced by Thurmaston Bus rather than First Bus. Thurmaston Bus was now no longer in operation. He was aware that there was a long standing query regarding the extension of the 21 bus to the Troon Way area. This service was currently being reviewed because the extension to Hamilton was not attracting many passengers.
Members of the community raised concerns that there were a considerable number of Gateway students in the Troon Way area and those students now had to catch the number 22 bus to Barkby Road and then change to the number 21. There were also people in the Troon Way area who needed the 21 bus to visit the temple or health centre and people who wanted the 21 bus to serve the Peebles Way area too.
Concerns were also raised that there was no bus service on Catherine Street or to Rushey Mead after 7.30pm and Steve Zanker responded that it was challenging to provide evening bus services. In response to a question as to whether the bus companies worked with each other for the good of the community, the meeting heard that bus companies were not legally allowed to do this. He added that bus services were run commercially and although the local authority offered some subsidies, those subsidies had been affected by the local authority funding cuts.
Julian Heubeck then addressed the meeting and explained that bus services had been deregulated in the middle of the 1980s. This meant that the bus companies decided what service to deliver and the local authority no longer had any influence over their decisions. The council had supported some bus services where there was a defined need for them. This might be for example to support hourly bus services to small pockets of the city. The council had also supported some school services and Sunday services. The budget cuts had resulted in a review of the supported services as there was a need to reduce expenditure. This had led to a decision to maintain day time services as far as possible. There was however an on-going further review because of the need to reduce the amount the council spent on supporting bus services. The Deputy City Mayor was aware of the concerns of residents in respect of bus services to Peebles Way and evening and Sunday services. The council were aware that these services were valued but they tried support the services where they were most needed.
In relation to Gateway College, Julian explained that when the college opened, they were obliged to formulate a travel plan, and as a result of this, Thurmaston Bus had serviced the college from Rushey Mead. As this bus company were no longer operating, both Julian and Steve Zanker offered to look for options as to ways of progressing this issue.
Julian also explained that the Council had set up a Bus Users’ Panel and it was hoped that the panel would be represented by people from every ward in the city. The aim was for the panel to meet every 2 to 3 months. The last meeting had been held at 5.30pm though a meeting had also been held in the afternoon. At the previous Bus Users’ Panel, there had been Councillors and representatives from the bus companies, but the actual bus users had been under represented. People were invited to give their details to the community meeting officers if they were interested in joining the Bus Users’ Panel.
Steve Zanker expressed his thanks for being invited to the community meeting and explained that he would be happy to attend a future meeting if invited.