Some Cornwall Council-funded bus services to be scaled back or cut
Officials say hard decisions have had to be made to make the network financially viable
Last updated 25th Aug 2022
It has emerged that some rural bus services in Cornwall are having to be scaled back or cut completely.
The changes to some Cornwall Council-funded routes will come into force from Sunday 4th September. They include locations like St Neot where the 11B service is being withdrawn and the 77 Looe to Menheniot service which will now end at Liskeard. The changes are due to "low passenger numbers'.
There are also "significant changes" in the Camborne and Redruth areas where some evening and Sunday services are being reduced.
Cuts "wrong on so many levels"
Councillor Colin Martin, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group is worried about how it will impact elderly and vulnerable residents.
He said: "These cuts to vital rural bus services are wrong on so many levels. The Council's own Transport Plan, published just four months ago, promises to double the number of passengers on public transport as part of the commitment to eliminate Cornwall's carbon emissions by 2030.
"We are in a cost of living crisis where many people cannot afford to keep a car on the road, let alone fill it with fuel. Some of our most vulnerable residents are unable to drive at all".
Cornwall Council, which subsidises around half of all bus routes in the Duchy said: "We have been working with Cornwall's bus operators with the aim of making the network more resilient and financially sustainable.
"We have had to make some very hard decisions to make sure our limited financial and operational resources are being directed to where they will be most effective.
"We have worked hard to maintain links for as many communities as possible and listened to customer feedback when planning changes to some services which will take effect in September as part of operators' winter timetable.
"We are actively engaging with Community Groups across Cornwall to identify where they may be able to work with us on plugging gaps in the Local Bus network".
We have had to make "very hard decisions"
On its website, Go Cornwall Bus states: "Covid-19 impacted all public transport, including buses, and Central Government funding has enabled the majority of bus services to be kept in place. However, this funding has now been confirmed as coming to an end in Autumn 2022.
"People aren't using the buses in the same way as they did before the pandemic and so we're revising which services are financially viable to make sure we can continue running bus services in the future".
You can check the full timetable, including all changes, on the Go Cornwall Bus website.