No. 94 Bus Service

 

As you may know the County Council has taken the decision to withdraw all bus subsidies in the next budget. The decision is not finalised yet but given the fact that they have to find more savings than they originally thought, then this will be almost certainly be the case.

I attended a meeting on 19th Jan with Luke Marion, the Finance and Commercial Director of Thames Travel, to discuss the 94 bus service. There were also representatives from East Hagbourne, Upton &Blewbury present.

We had a wide-ranging discussion about the service and the options for the future. It is apparent though that there is a large gap between the cost of running the service and the revenue from passengers and without some support it will be difficult to keep the service running. The total cost of running the service is £130,000 a year; there is a subsidy of £88,000 from the County Council at the moment and the income from fares is £47,000 made up of £26,000 from ordinary revenue and £21,000 from concessions (apparently Thames Travel get 50pence in the pound from the County for concessions). About two thirds of passenger numbers are concessions. So the deficit will be of the order of £80,000 when the subsidy is discontinued.

Thames Travel do not want to cancel services because this means sacking drivers. However they are obviously not prepared to run services at a loss. Some possibilities for raising money were discussed. Luke Marion will approach the Great Western railway for a grant on the grounds that Thames Travel bring customers to the station.  An increase in fares is a possibility although this would only bring in a small amount and could be counter-productive because it might discourage people from using the bus. In addition the County Council has a statutory duty to provide free travel to school children who travel more than 3 miles to school. At the moment the County Council does this by providing a dedicated school bus. One proposal is that the County Council give the money that they spend on the school bus to Thames Travel instead and the 94 bus route is altered to take in the Girls’ School and St. Birinus.

One thing that came out of the discussions was the fact that the County Council has a statutory duty to assess social need when considering disbanding a service. Some people think that this has not been carried out in this case and there may be a legal challenge to this effect.

To summarise, things don’t look good. The current bus driver contracts come to an end in June. Thames Travel have to give notice of 56 days to decommission a service so we can expect an announcement in April if the service is to be cancelled. Meanwhile the communication between the Parish Council and Thames Travel will continue.

Val Brownsword

 

Stop press – Buses update

The following is an update from the Sustainable Blewbury group about bus cuts. They organised a meeting on January 31st in Blewbury which representatives from W. Hagbourne attended. We have now formed the Downland Villages Transport Group so that we can present a united front in negotiations with Thames Travel.

Val Brownsword

Sustainable Blewbury wrote a Stop Press about bus cutstowards the end of January, saying that Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) subsidies were very likely to be withdrawn from all the buses that serve Blewburyand that could still happen.

But a lot has happened since then to try to salvage at least some – and perhaps all – of our current bus service. A meeting was held on January 31st of Parish Transport Representatives (PTRs), Chairmen of three local Parish Councils and several regular bus users. We decided that even if OCC does removeits subsidies completely, we should do all we can to find a way of keeping the buses going.

It is fortunate that Thames Travel have already stated that they want to try to keep some 94/95 buses running, and are considering commercially viable methods of doing so. We are backing them up in various ways: writing to County Councillors to question whether they have considered the social impacts of their proposed cuts (this has been helped by recent stories in the press and on TV), and asking our councillors to join with those who are pressing central government to consider ways of helping rural services to become more commercially viable.

There is no way Parish Councils can provide the current county council subsidy of £88,000 per year, but they are exploring what, if any, support they might be able to provide. It should be noted that in addition to the Thames 94/95, OCC run the 131 to Wallingford. That is a relatively cheap minibus service, and the general feeling is that it may well be possible to save it.(This is of no relevance to West Hagbourne)

We realise that commercial viability for the 94/95 might need some consideration of fares. We have talked to some full-fare paying bus customers, and on the whole they are willing to accept an increase in fares if it helps save the buses, given that alternatives are far more expensive. It also looks possible that some concessionary pass users would be willing to contribute by paying instead of using their passes.

We hope to have another meeting (as the newly formed Downland Villages Transport Group) with Thames Travel after the OCC decision is made in mid-February. This has to be a brief summary, but we will attempt to keep you up to date, and remember .....................
if we want to keep our buses for all in the community, we must use them. Even if you are not a regular bus user, please consider using the service occasionally as a way of helping to maintain the service for all.

Jo Lakeland and Eric Eisenhandler,

Co-chairs, Sustainable Blewbury

 

FROM THE DOWNLAND VILLAGES TRANSPORT GROUP

BUS UPDATE 23/02/2016: We have more time, so let’s use it to save our buses!

We (the Downland Transport Action Group) have just heard from a Thames Travel representative that, while the County Council voted to cut bus subsidies, our buses will continue until at least 20th July, as the timing for deciding on contracts has been moved back.. This gives us more time to work with Thames Travel to save our buses.

The best way we can do this is to use the buses and to encourage others to use them. If you have a bus concession card please also consider occasionally paying the fare instead of using your card, as that will increase revenue … and the key to showing that our services can be maintained at a high level is showing that they can be commercially viable.

The Downland Villages Transport Group includes representatives from the seven parishes on the route (Blewbury, Upton, East and West Hagbourne, North and South Moreton, Aston Tirrold and Aston Upthorpe). We are in contact with our county councillors, Oxfordshire County Council’s manager of fleet services, and the finance and commercial director of Thames Transport, all of whom are being encouraging of our efforts. We hope to have another meeting with Thames Travel as soon as possible.

We are starting to survey the parishes to find out not only who is using the buses, but also to find out what people want from our buses and what would encourage further use. For example, are there timetable improvements that would increase your use of the service? If you are asked to complete a survey form, please do so – we need up-to-date, solid evidence to support our case .

Please pass this information on to your neighbours.

We will attempt to keep you informed, and remember …
if we want to keep our buses for all in the community, we must use them. Even if you are not a regular bus user, please consider using the service occasionally as a way of helping to maintain the service for all.