8th April 2008

The County are cutting all three buses on the evening on the 46 route from Nailsworth to Stroud, Painswick and Cheltenham.

News that the County are planning to stop all three of the number 46 evening bus services between Nailsworth, Stroud and Cheltenham is a serious blow. Apparently passenger numbers which have been good, have dropped over the last six months. Interestingly this period coincides with the A46 closure and the poor publicity of re-timetabling which may well have added to problems, but it is also an indication that our County needs to do much more to promote public transport.

Our rural bus is an increasingly endangered species. Nationally research reveals the hidden problem of rural bus cuts and the devastating impact the cuts have on people and communities: elderly villagers left isolated, hospital visitors and workers without a public transport option, schoolchildren without school buses and tourists inconvenienced by rerouted buses (i).

This is a wrong decision by our County Council, but our Government is also to blame. They should be seeking to revive and strengthen the fragile and endangered rural bus by giving local authorities more powers over buses, creating a more stable and secure funding regime and establishing a bus passenger watchdog.

Our countryside is increasingly becoming a ghetto for the rich, completely inaccessible for those without cars. Good rural buses need to be an alternative for people with cars as well as a lifeline for those without. Please think again before stopping these buses.

Philip Booth

(i) Case studies, covering every region of England: http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/system/files/Rural_buses_case_studies_0.pdf

Report: http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/system/files/rural_buses.pdf