'Cuts fall on Bristol bus services', from the BBC

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Dozens of bus routes in Bristol and south Gloucestershire are being cut or having their hours of operation curtailed due to council cutbacks. Bristol City Council is saving ^200,000 from its public transport budget with the cuts. Services in the east and south of the city are particularly affected.

Councillor Jon Rogers said he regretted the cuts, but said work to speed up buses would make them more profitable and attractive. He said the council's work on bus lanes and the introduction of Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services)-style swipe cards would make bus journeys quicker, attracting more people on to them and making them need less council subsidy.

The service changes come into effect on 27 September.

Routes from Staple Hill, Hengrove, Temple Meads, Downend, Whitchurch, Ashton, Filton Avenue and Lockleaze are among those dropped or altered. A number of services will stop running at 1900 and are being scrapped completely on Sundays. Others will run less frequently or on revised routes.

All the services are operated by First Group, which was recently criticised by the Office of Fair Trading for operating near monopolies in many cities, including Bristol.

Campaigner David Redgewell, of Travelwatch, said the council's decision was a backward step and "every time... Bristol City Council need to make cuts, the hatchet falls on public transport".

"We could see a situation in the greater Bristol bus network where you have new shelters, new buses, new bus lanes, but virtually no buses," he added.

Full details of the service changes are on the Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council websites.

[devon_metro]

Presumably this money is being saved due to the over 60s bus passes!

They ought to make it that pensioners pay 50p for a days travel on the local bus network. Or something similar.

[bemmy]

Don't blame the pensioners! 

Every year, regardless of which political party is supposedly in charge, Bristol City Council has to make cuts to actual real service provision, so as not to affect the careers of the thousands of employees who think that spending 37 hours a week in totally unproductive meetings is the same as doing a job of work.

[Tim]

"We could see a situation in the greater Bristol bus network where you have new shelters, new buses, new bus lanes, but virtually no buses," he added.

Councils see bus shelters and bus lanes etc as "investment" (good) but subsidising fares and routes as "subsidy" (bad).  I dispare of this country.

[devonian]

Don't blame the pensioners! 

Every year, regardless of which political party is supposedly in charge, Bristol City Council has to make cuts to actual real service provision, so as not to affect the careers of the thousands of employees who think that spending 37 hours a week in totally unproductive meetings is the same as doing a job of work.

So so true of many a company and council unfortunately. Still - there is always hope that they will create another taskforce to oversee the productivity of meetings and spreadsheets 

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Dozens of bus routes in Bristol and south Gloucestershire are being cut or having their hours of operation curtailed due to council cutbacks. Bristol City Council is saving ^200,000 from its public transport budget with the cuts. Services in the east and south of the city are particularly affected.

Councillor Jon Rogers said he regretted the cuts, but said work to speed up buses would make them more profitable and attractive. He said the council's work on bus lanes and the introduction of Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services)-style swipe cards would make bus journeys quicker, attracting more people on to them and making them need less council subsidy.

The service changes come into effect on 27 September.

Routes from Staple Hill, Hengrove, Temple Meads, Downend, Whitchurch, Ashton, Filton Avenue and Lockleaze are among those dropped or altered. A number of services will stop running at 1900 and are being scrapped completely on Sundays. Others will run less frequently or on revised routes.

All the services are operated by First Group, which was recently criticised by the Office of Fair Trading for operating near monopolies in many cities, including Bristol.

Campaigner David Redgewell, of Travelwatch, said the council's decision was a backward step and "every time... Bristol City Council need to make cuts, the hatchet falls on public transport".

"We could see a situation in the greater Bristol bus network where you have new shelters, new buses, new bus lanes, but virtually no buses," he added.

Full details of the service changes are on the Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council websites.

One wonders, if Labour in Bristol hadn't thrown their toys out of the pram and continued to run BCC^» (Bristol City Council - about), whether these cuts would've happened?

[bemmy]

One wonders, if Labour in Bristol hadn't thrown their toys out of the pram and continued to run BCC^» (Bristol City Council - about), whether these cuts would've happened?

Yes they definitely would. Labour has never supported public transport in Bristol as far as I've noticed (IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly') it was the Lib Dems that introduced the Severn Beach line subsidy). We had decades of Labour in charge but the buses have always been rubbish and expensive compared to other cities. In fact when they were first privatised, the service actually improved, with a lot of increased frequencies. Then First took over City Line and, with the help of increased congestion, managed to transform the bus service back into what it was before.... only far more expensive.

To be fair to Labour, Bristol was the largest city in the country not to be deemed Metropolitan, which is why we didn't get a Passenger Transport Executive and the opportunity for significant subsidies of public transport. I think that's why fares were always higher here, and a private company could hardly be expected to reduce them in line with other cities.