Council shares the blame for bus cuts, claims Stagecoach
The bus company is planning to cancel and change some services.
Gloucestershire County Council shares the blame for cuts to bus routes which “will affect the most vulnerable in society”, according to Stagecoach West.
The bus company announced last week that it has registered its intent to cancel and change some of the bus services they provided to the Traffic Commissioner.
Shire Hall bosses say Stagecoach has made the move to prioritise urban and commercial routes leaving rural communities isolated.
This means bus services delivering more than 300,000 journeys a year will be cancelled, preventing people from accessing work, school, hospital appointments and leisure activities.
The first of these cuts are set to take place from November 20 but Stagecoach bosses say the council has dragged its feet and could have put new replacement bus contracts out to tender from mid-August.
Stagecoach West managing director Rachel Geliamassi said: “We are very disappointed that Gloucestershire County Council has effectively tried to wash its hands of its share of responsibility for delivering public transport to local communities in the region.
“We have tried to engage with the local authority for months to work in partnership to make the best of a very difficult set of challenges largely outside our control. We have been open and honest with council officers and elected representatives about the scale of the problem and have given them as much notice as possible to allow them to consider solutions.
“The local authority could have put new replacement council bus contracts out to tender from mid-August, but it has dragged its feet and has still not taken steps to formally procure these services for the benefit of local people.
“We have provided regular updates to the Traffic Commissioner on the delivery of services in the region and the extensive steps we have been taking to recruit new drivers to tackle the skills shortage affecting the UK economy.
“Our local communities are extremely important to us, and we know how critical bus services are to people in our region. That will always be at the heart of our decisions.
“After weeks of pressing the council for a face-to-face meeting, we are due to meet Cllr Philip Robinson and Colin Chick, Executive Director of Economy, Environment and Infrastructure, at the end of next week. We hope that provides an opportunity to reset relationships so we can collectively focus our energy and resources on identifying the best way forward for local people.”
The bus firm also said public funding during the pandemic went directly to protecting bus services for local communities and the jobs of bus workers.
And concessionary fares are a subsidy to the passengers who benefit – bus operators are simply reimbursed for the fares that would otherwise have been paid if the scheme was not in place.
Council tendered bus services are no different to other contracts where the authority receives a service from a private contractor which is paid in return.
A Gloucestershire County Council spokesperson said: “It is factually incorrect for Stagecoach’s Managing Dircetor to claim that the county council could have reprocured these routes in August.
“Just as you cannot get remarried until your divorce paperwork is finalised, we cannot reprocure bus routes before the existing contract is terminated. Stagecoach formally handed back the contracts on Friday October 8 and we went straight out to reprocure on Monday October 10.
“The decision to cut these routes was Stagecoach’s alone to make as a commercial business. Since we were first told about the Stagecoaches cuts, we have worked tirelessly to get this decision reversed.
“Unfortunately, our efforts to convince Stagecoach senior leaders to explore a different solution, one that did not leave communities isolated and cut off from vital services, education, and employment, were unsuccessful.
“We have acted without hesitation to try to get these routes picked up by other operators where possible. For Stagecoach to stoke further concern and worry amongst our communities is damaging, misleading and disappointing’.”