Lib Dems Fury After Villagers Cut Off by Bus Service Changes (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems Fury After Villagers Cut Off by Bus Service Changes

January 26, 2010 5:53 PM

Furious Liberal Democrats have hit out at recent cuts to village bus timetables, claiming rural communities are at the mercy of a company that has a monopoly on services.

Cuts in county council bus subsidies over the years have compounded the problem leaving villagers with fewer and fewer buses, they claim.

They have called for a total reform of how the bus services are regulated in a bid to give passengers a fairer deal.

Ely County Councillor, Nigel Bell, a member of the East Cambridgeshire Environment and Transport Area Committee said: "These changes demonstrate just how the county's rural communities are at the mercy of a bus company that effectively has a monopoly on services.

"With the county council cuts to bus subsidies over the last few years, the county council portfolio holder is already indicating that these changes are unlikely to be mitigated by extra subsidised services. It is an appalling situation that has been allowed to develop and a root and branch reform of how the counties' bus services are regulated and funded needs to be carried out."

Lib Dems fear the villagers of Isleham, Burwell, Lode and Swaffham will be hardest hit.

Changes being implemented by Stagecoach include:

-A reduction in morning and evening peak services between Cambridge, Newmarket, Soham and Ely with journeys to and from Isleham withdrawn;

-Reducing to hourly the number 10 service which runs from Newmarket through Burwell, the Swaffhams, Lode and Bottisham to Cambridge, with the morning peak no long serving Lode village;

-The withdrawal of the 9A Ely town service and a reduction to Sunday services on the X9 between Cambridge and Ely;

-The number 9 service between Cambridge, Ely and Littleport will be hourly with journeys between Ely and Cambridge withdrawn expect for two morning and one evening service.

Lib Dem Councillor, Bob Stevens, who represents Bottisham said: "We have watched our village bus services being eroded over the past couple of years and the county council has sat back and let it happen.

"Villagers in these rural communities are becoming more and more isolated and we have a county administration that doesn't seem to care. Action must be taken now to prevent companies like Stagecoach being able to have this amount of control over village life.