The “Don't Cut Us Off!” campaign to
improve our bus services is astonished that Somerset County Council cannot find
a senior elected representative to attend the important 5th March public meeting
in Shepton Mallet to discuss the future bus timetable that meets the needs of
Somerset residents and visitors.
We now call upon the County Council to
supply a Corporate Manager for Transport to attend the 5th March meeting, as the
political representatives deem it not important enough to make time to hear the
views of the travelling public and the bus companies.
Most of our county’s towns and villages do
not have bus services that meet need. But it is impossible to improve public
transport if those who make decisions, like the leader and transport portfolio
holder, essentially sit with their fingers in their ears unwilling to listen to
users. We do however note that the transport portfolio holder has offered to
meet with Shepton Mallet Town Council, but will not engage with the people of
Somerset who actually need and use the buses.
The Don't Cut Us Off! campaign wants to
improve the existing timetable and the routes that buses take. We want
up-to-date data on bus usage to be collected and analyzed to identify the real
needs of users (and potential users). This can then be used to target bus
subsidies more effectively to improve services. We want to set up a countywide
forum of users, bus operators and the County Council. These stakeholders would
then be well placed to deliver improvements in service that would provide buses
routes and integrated timetables that are closely matched to the lives of
users. If optimized timetables make routes more popular then this will also
increase revenue to bus operators. Ultimately this could even reduce the need
for public subsidies.
Not unreasonably, we expect better from
our political leaders than sitting in a corner saying they don't want to listen
to the ordinary people of Somerset. We expect those who control the public
purse to use the limited money available to best advantage. This campaign has
found that the public is eager to help the County Council to achieve
this.
So come on, councillors! It’s time to
rise to the occasion on the 5th of March and engage with younger, older,
disabled, less-well-off, carbon footprint-aware, occasional, regular and future
bus users.
Sarah Bolton
Tracey Harding
Chris Inchley
Garfield Kennedy
Derek Tanswell
Sharon Snook
for the “Don’t Cut Us Off!”
Campaign
