Representatives from Transport for Greater Manchester and Rosso Bus have been invited to attend to answer questions in relation to this issue.
All comments will be recorded and forwarded to the relevant organisations.
Minutes:
Councillor Noel Bayley, the Council's elected representative for transport issues attended the meeting with representatives from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to answer questions in relation to the 480 bus service which was in the process of having its route altered. Councillor Bayley explained that the bus service was currenty subsidised by TfGM to service the village of Affetside. Rosso Buses had informed TfGM that they would no longer be providing the service to Affetside and this would commence at the end of July 2014.
Sam Taysoe and James Lewis from TfGM explained that they had been working with Rosso Busues and their providers to try to come up with a solution to the issue as they were aware that by changing the route this would mean that some areas including Tottington Road and Affetside would have no bus service available to them.
TfGM had approached First Bus to ask if they could find a solution by looking at their current bus provision in the area and maybe altering a current service route but they had not been able to come up with a viable solution.
It was explained that the subsidy was £16,500 per year to cover the Affetside route and there were no commercial operators willing to provide the service for this amount.
It was also explained that TfGM were not in a position to force a provider to cover any route, all they could do was ask if an operator was interested. The money available to subsidise the route would not be increased due to budget restrictions within TfGM
Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:
· A local resident explained that not all residents af the areas affected had access to transport and asked what their options were once the service stopped.
It was explained that there would still be the Ring and Ride service as well as the local link service.
· An Affetside resident explained that they relied on the service to commute to work in Bolton and they would have no other way of getting their once the service ceased to run.
· A member of the public stated that there were a number of young people who relied on the service to get to and from their jobs at local pubs and restaurants.
· College students would need a service to get to and from Bury in order for them to attend college.
It was explained that there would still be the school services into Bury which would not be affected and college students would be able to use these buses to get into Bury.
· A member of the public made reference to the Local Link service and stated that the service was not a reliable one and would not be a good alternative.
It was explained that TfGM would look at ways of making the local link more robust to become a service that local people did want to use.
· Councillor Wright asked whether it was correct that the amount of money Bury Council put into TfGM was £13m.
This figure would have to be confirmed after the meeting.
· A member of the public asked how much funding there was specifically for services to rural areas.
It was explained that all of the funding came out of one budget, there were no specific budgets for certain areas. The money was used to support services across the whole of the Greater Manchester conurbation.
· Councillor Carter reported that he had spoken to First Bus to propose possible options and the response he had received had not been encouraging. Councillor Carter asked whether other operators from further away would be contacted to see if they were interested in providing a service in the area.
It was explained that all possible avenues would be considered but it was difficult to negotiate with providers who are just interested in the commercial side of the service.
· A local resident referred to the fact that the government are promoting the use of public transport and asked how this decision worked alongside that policy.
· Councillor Gartside stated that the residents of the areas affected by the proposed change to the service had come up with a number of different options and asked that all of these options be reviewed and considered a the service was a lifeline to many residents.
It was explained that all feedback would be taken on board and fed back to the operators.
· A member of the public asked whether the community could anything more to raise funds or find available grants to contribute to the subsidy.
It was reported that the current operators had decided that the service needed to change and there was nothing that TfGM could do about this. All that could be done was to look for an alternative option to plug the gap left. TfGM could not force a commercial operation to provide a service if they did not want to.
· Councillor Wright reported that she had been contacted by a large number of concerned residents of Affetside who would be directly affected and asked that their concerns be noted.