Off the buses!

An article in Corsham People (7 April www.corshampeople.co.uk ) makes a strange assertion that 'better buses would mean more housing'

As a result of the current deregulation of bus services we have a system where virtually anyone can set up a bus service to run wherever or whenever they like. This will clearly be driven by commercial considerations as they would hope to make a profit. Yes this is more difficult in a rural environment compared to a more urban one – although there will be more competition in the urban context.

However the local authority (Wiltshire Council in this case) may chose to provide a subsidised service if there is evidence of demand or hardship – or if there are gaps in a privately run service.

In the Corsham People article Mr Taylor the councillor for Gastard has quite rightly referred to the deplorable No72/73 subsidised service from Corsham to Melksham which goes through Gastard. There are virtually no timetables or bus stops along the entire route, local residents have reported the service to be unreliable and sometimes failing to turn up, and if you go to the traveline website: www.travelinesw.com the service does not even exist! Combine that with a published timetable (if you can find one in Gastard) which offers a very fragmented service. There is little wonder the passenger numbers are low with the perception of a service which is next to useless.

So it is all boils down to priorities and what people feel is most important. As I see it there are several routes we could go down if we genuinely do want a better bus service:

• Getting those who use buses to pay more for it - hardly an incentive to increase bus usage and really hits those less able to pay
• Increase the allocation from local authorities to provide better subsidised services – increasingly difficult in a time we are told there must be greater efficiencies and higher savings.
• A more creative approach to bus provision in rural areas such as the wigglybus service now called Connect2Wiltshire which is essentially a dial-a-ride service - although we do not have one of these in the Corsham Area except to get to the RUH
• Increase the power given to local authorities to allow them to have stricter agreements with bus providers – that would require a considerable change in political will as it would be meddling in a currently ‘free’ market.

Strangely, I bumped into Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in Corsham High Street today and asked her what she would do to change our failing deregulated policy on bus service provision – I reminded her it was a measure brought in by the Tories under Margaret Thatcher. I was told that the Conservatives would support partnerships between local authorities and bus providers so they could talk to each other to solve problems. Rather a simplistic solution methinks!

As for the 'better buses would mean more housing' statement we began with you only have to look at Katherine Park to see that more housing has nothing to do with better buses - there is not a single bus stop in sight!