Bus service “abysmal” says MP

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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.”

Hastings and Rye MP Helena Dollimore with transport minister Simon Lightwood

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 .

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Why are there now routes to different destinations all numbered “100”? I have witnessed the confusuion of people, not just tourists, wondering which “100” service they should take. Whose silly idea was this?

  2. Could it be a lack of drivers? Plus traffic and grid lock on the roads, not to mention eternal road works or gas or water leaks closing the roads.
    As a non-driver, I rely on the 101 to get me to Hastings & Rye. October has been particularly challenging!

  3. Putting up minimum bus fares from £2 to £3 is going to hit a lot of struggling people.
    My daughter in law at the moment has to pay £8 a day for her two boys (aged 12 & 14 )
    to get a bus to/from school in Hastings.. That’s £40 a week, now increasing to £60 per week from January for a single mum to get the kids to school.
    Its ridiculous that school children have to pay that much just to get to school & back.
    Not all parents have a car to ferry their kids around & shouldn’t children be encouraged to use public transport? Whatever is going on with this government that think this is acceptable ?
    All children should be able to use public transport to get to school & back for free.
    Can we really call this Starmer led government a ‘Labour government’ when it just piles further financial pressures onto already struggling parents ?

  4. Echo other responses. Seems odd for our MP to criticise the bus service the same week providers are allowed to raise the fare cap… And remember, the fare cap potentially means a two pound rise, not a one pound rise, bcs you have to get home! Along with the Two Child Cap and the NI rises in the budget, this is another measure that’s going to hit people in the pocket. And not those who can afford it… Hoping Rye News is going to cover the budget next week!

  5. At £3 each way, a bus to Hastings is still cheaper than the train, which costs £8 return and where fares are soon due to rise 4.6%. The UK’s rail fares are already the most expensive in Europe, mainly owing to the decision to privatise the network. A similar policy to privatise water provision back in the late 1980s led to the chaos we see with sewage pollution, broken pipes and so on. Given the appalling state of our public services after 14 years of Tory misrule, incompetence and factional battles, something had to be done to stabilise the state’s finances and to rebuild the NHS, schools and vital services like public transport. Brexit has also been a disaster for the UK economy. I’m prepared to give the new government a couple of years’ grace to see whether it’s able to improve the overall situation.

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