AdamH wrote: ↑16:49 Friday 14th October 2016
DD12 wrote: ↑15:24 Friday 14th October 2016
...it would need a subsidy...
In that case, forget it! It was reported last night the amount of money the Government has to spend on buses has dropped from £100m two years ago to £37m for this year. That drop in budget has been felt very much by the local authorities.
I have been reading this topic with a deepening sense of dismay. On the one hand as often as not I see two buses running together with very few passengers on board on the mega-frequent daytime 144 and 44 based routes then we hear that the 382 will not be running on Saturday at all. We now have a Managing Director urging pass holders not to use them and pay the going rate to sustain unprofitable services whilst the County Council cheerfully withdraw the subsidies from poorly used but essential rural services. Wow that is progress!
I get the impression from all the comments made on this site that most, if not all of our contributors are car owners and are not disabled, old or infirm having to rely solely on a diminishing bus service which is constantly under threat of withdrawal. Frankly, it is frustrating enough living in a big city like Worcester when one of the half-hourly buses runs 20 minutes late or just doesn't turn up; what it must be like living in the sticks without a car and having to rely on a rudimentary sparse service to get to work or go shopping beggars belief! No wonder that villagers all own cars and youngsters take a driving test as soon as they are old enough, no wonder too, that one time farming community villages are becoming the exclusive preserve of the very well heeled.
Shame on all Council tax payers for their 'I'm alright Jack' attitude, surely it would be beneficial for the majority of pensioner pass-holders to help out the worse-off few by paying a nominal ticket fare of say 50p or 75p single,
I realise that real life doesn't work this way but it might be a way of reducing the amount the Council pay the bus operator and using the money to subsidise 'life-line' rural services. Think of this; if it was all about making money we just wouldn't have an NHS would we; it is an essential service. I don't like paying taxes, but perhaps there is a need to increase them by a small amount to provide for areas of greatest need at the same time finding ways of making our service industries more efficient.
Perhaps you all think that the level of service is too good anyway and that the market should find its own level and damn the consequences?