Your say / Politics
‘Labour need to get a grip on public transport’
So we now have some actual results from the action of Lib Dem councillors in South Bristol to replace the First bus/council decision to cancel the 51 bus run by First and replace it with a Wessex service.
Over 1,000 passengers a day are using the service which on First’s fare structure would produce a significant profit, but on Wessex, where in some cases the fares are less than half of First’s, it is a very promising start towards profit.
The two companies seem to operate two completely different business models with one looking to grow the number of passengers and the other looking to get the maximum revenue from a smaller number. In a gridlocked city, which should we be supporting?
is needed now More than ever
The council administration seem to have decided to switch the later evening subsidy that had been on the First 51 to add to the subsidy of First’s 50 service on the grounds that unless they were paid double subsidy we would lose the evening service.
This added to the handing of over £1m a year to First for the park and ride, most of which needed no subsidy. And the mishandling of the MetroBus operation should cause considerable alarm to the Bristol public too.
The greater Bristol bus network, introduced a few years back, made running buses on main routes in Bristol much easier and very profitable. The disruption caused by MetroBus works are a nuisance to smooth running but these would have been completed over a year ago and at less cost but for the previous mayor.
Better outcomes and responses to First’s cuts may well have been possible in other parts of the city had Bristol City Council not kept the recent round of bus cuts a secret. We understand that the traffic commissioner is writing to express some concern about this.
One amusing side effect was the failed attempt by Labour transport canbinet member Mark Bradshaw to re-spin his attempted killing of the 51 as him saving it.
In response to last month’s article I believe he also accidentally outed himself as the anonymous Grey Goose comment poster – very unfortunate given that GG was the nom de plume used for attacks on prominent members of his own party as well as those in others.
This administration and redirect its resources to improve it and make a full blooded commitment to franchising to stop a private semi-monopoly dictates to the council and the public.
Gary Hopkins is leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Bristol City Council
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