‘A sorry saga with a good ending’

According to First Bus they informed the council in June that they intended to cut the 500,000 passenger a year 51 route from September 4. This was confirmed in writing through the traffic commissioner in early July.

Many other changes were notified at the same time. Not only was there apparently no effort to affect these changes but they were not notified to councillors and the public affected until nearly a month later when Lib Dem councillors asked for verification from council officers.

This delay made a campaign to get a replacement far more difficult through sheer lack of time. The time had already passed for a normal registration with the traffic commissioner and we had only until August 19 for an operator to apply for an emergency registration.

It seemed like what appeared to be the First strategy of using their monopoly position to squeeze people on to other services might work for them.

Councillor Tim Kent and I immediately set up a website taking petition signatures and started distributing a leaflet. Information and signing sheets were put in to many local businesses that offered to help.

We approached other potential replacement operators and found that the most likely, Wessex, had not even been spoken to by the council.

We quickly negotiated a deal and this offer was put to council officers the day after we received it in writing. Route, timetable, reduced fares and conditions.

There were no holes to pick in it but we still had concerns a block might be put on this by the council who had of course not passed on information previously and given the short notice needed to endorse the application to the traffic commissioner.

This is where the massive petition, already over 3,000 and growing daily came in. At 3,500 signatures a debate is automatically. triggered at the next full council on September 13 and presumably there was not a great deal of enthusiasm for a huge number of individuals and businesses coming along to forcibly make their point about a failure to support a great rescue.

The assistant mayor who a week earlier had told my fellow councillor that our campaign was a waste of time and that there would be no replacement was featured in a council press release being given the credit for the rescue. General derision followed.

Wessex will now take over the running of this service from September 4 and the tone of the council debate will be different but disaster was only narrowly averted and other services have been probably lost unnecessarily.

Broadwalk shopping centre is unique in having such a high percentage of customers reach it by bus – but what has been a success story was in danger.

Unless lessons are learned and a more strategic and coordinated approach is used, not only our present bus services but also the new Metrobus are in severe danger of collapse, again adding to the city’s gridlock and pollution problems again.

Gary Hopkins is the leader of the Lib Dem councillors at Bristol City Council

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