Monday, September 04, 2006

Yellow Buses

As our readers will know, Bournemouth Council recently sold Yellow Buses to Transdev, a French operator. Since then, a number of changes to bus routes have come into force. The changes to Bournemouth's bus services in Alum Chine and on the West Cliff are a real body blow to many local residents who depend on them as their only form of affordable transport.
For much of the year, Alum Chine now has no bus service after the late afternoon and no service at all on Sundays which has resulted in some of the most vulnerable and elderly residents becoming isolated in their own homes. On the West Cliff, where the service has been reduced to one per hour, the buses are now often full to capacity, meaning that those who are reliant on the service often have to wait a further hour for the next bus. Concerns have been expressed that the operators do not appear to have fully taken seasonal variations of demand into account. A large proportion of bus users in the area are elderly residents, many of whom cannot be expected to walk far. The majority are on low and fixed incomes and rely on public transport as the only means of leaving their homes or to go shopping for essentials. The forthcoming closure of Waitrose in Westbourne will make their plight even more difficult. In Alum Chine there are also many young people on low incomes, living in flatlet housing, who are totally reliant on public transport for getting to and from work, often travelling at unsocial hours to work in local hotels and restaurants. Tourists and visitors to the remaining hotels and guest houses in Alum Chine who arrive in Bournemouth by public transport are also marooned if they want to go very far.

The Ward Councillors have been lobbying hard ever since the changes were first announced earlier this year to try to persuade the Council to provide subsidy to support the reinstatement of these vital social routes. Councillor John Beesley, speaking to The Village, said, “Recently we met with Derek Lott ( MD of Yellow Buses) on behalf of the residents of Westbourne and West Cliff Ward and there is no question of Yellow Buses or any other bus company reinstating the necessary services either now or in the future without subsidy from the Council going to one of the operators. However, our efforts have now achieved a review by the Council which is a start”.

The Village joins with the Ward Councillors and urges all residents in Alum Chine and on the West Cliff to continue to write to the Council so that these routes are reinstated as a Council priority. Cllr Beesley went on, “For our part we shall continue to press the administration to provide financial subsidy to support these socially essential routes and allow eligible residents to properly participate in the concessionary travel scheme. There really is no case for further delay and we hope the Council will act fairly and responsibly to restore a proper service as soon as possible”.