“No More Bus Cuts!” Demand Lib Dems as Hertfordshire Tories Try It On Again

The wheels of the bus go round and round - but not for much longer for some people without cars or those who cannot drive.

Only a year ago the Hertfordshire Tories cut £1.5 million from the county's bus travel support programme.

They slashed 1.4 million passenger-journeys out of the socially important supported bus routes - nearly 40% of the total.

Now the Tories have asked officers to draw up a third round of cuts, based on spurious "value for money" criteria. These potentially affect all 83 of the remaining council supported bus routes. The annual saving to the council could be £3.7 million but 2.4 million passenger-journeys would then be lost.

The Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors joined forces in opposing any further reductions to socially funded bus routes.

Cllr Nick Hollinghurst, Liberal Democrat Spokesman on Transport, said that new cuts would go against the council's own policies for protecting less prosperous groups. "Not only that, but the so-called 'value for money' criteria ignore any social benefit from these routes."

Cllr Hollinghurst protested, "This council's current view of transport strategy acknowledges that it is neither financially nor environmentally sustainable to try to solve the problems of traffic congestion and car parking by building new roads and car parks. Now it seems this lesson has been forgotten."

"We must find different ways to make travel bearable and affordable both for commuters and for those without access to a private car. There are two obvious things to do. The first is to plan for practical mixed ways to get around - say, bike to a bus stop, bus to the station and train to Milton Keynes or London. The second is to continue developing better, faster and easier public transport - starting with buses. Develop the network, not dismantle it."

His colleague Sandy Walkington, Herts County Councillor for St Albans South added, "The council already knows that buses are important to valuable workers such as carers, NHS workers and junior doctors as well as to workers in hospitality, catering and entertainment. They specifically noted in the report that withdrawal of evening services will have a greater impact on shift workers, who are predominantly women."

Cllr Walkington concluded, "The officers have to work within financial limits set by the Conservative administration. But this is a political decision, just as it is when their fellow Conservatives in government cut back on grants and funding and prevent councils from increasing council taxes to make up the losses. It is just Conservative ideology forcing unwelcome service cuts upon us."