Hastings and Rye MP Helena Dollimore has described the local bus service as “abysmal” during discussions with a transport minister and operator Stagecoach. She is calling on the bus company to address the problems, which include cancellations and increased journey times.
Stagecoach says a new leadership team is now in place at the Silverhill bus depot and is urging the government to tackle uncoordinated road closures and traffic congestion.
The MP says she has been contacted by many residents affected by the poor service. “Hastings and Rye has been given the short end of the stick with its bus service. For years we have put up with buses that are late, cancelled, or simply don’t arrive at all. We have seen buses decrease in frequency and journeys that used to require only one bus now require a change to a second bus. The long wait times are unacceptable.”
Cuts to the local bus service were raised by the MP during meetings with Joel Mitchell, the managing director of Stagecoach South East, and Simon Lightwood the government minister responsible for buses.
“I have been contacted by many residents for whom the loss of vital connections has made it significantly harder to access work, school, healthcare and amenities. Passengers should not have to put up with such sporadic service, which only forces people off buses and into their cars – precisely at a time when we should all be cutting our emissions to prevent a climate crisis.”
Joel Mitchell from Stagecoach acknowledged the company needed to build back people’s trust in the local bus services. “The changes we made in September have started to make a real difference to punctuality and reliability; last month our Hastings services performed better than they have in the last two years, and I really hope people are beginning to feel this. We’ve closed up the driver and engineering vacancy gaps that were causing a lot of pain, and we’ve got a new leadership team in place at the depot. There’s still much to do, but we’re confident we’re turning the corner.”
In September transport secretary Louise Haigh launched plans to overhaul bus services which could see local transport authorities like East Sussex County Council given more more power. Wednesday’s budget saw the single bus fare cap rise to £3 in January. The increase on the current limit of £2 was due to expire at the end of December.
Stagecoach says further government action is also needed to make bus services more reliable. “What our communities need more than ever is for politicians to make the bold decisions to support bus-first infrastructure on our road networks and reform the permissive culture of multiple uncoordinated road closures and temporary traffic controls.”
Image Credits: JS , Helena Dollimore .