Shrewsbury trade fears over bus axe plans
Thursday 17th March 2011, 4:18PM GMT.
Shrewsbury town centre shop owners will lose out on thousands of pounds worth of trade if transport chiefs push ahead with plans to axe Sunday and evening bus services, campaigners claimed today.
Shropshire Council’s Bus Strategy, which is currently out to public consultation until Monday, includes a recommendation that the subsidy to evening and Sunday services in the area should be ended.
Campaigners say this will have an immediate impact on town centre traders as the 87,500 passengers who use the services will be unlikely to visit their stores.
Transition Town Shrewsbury and Ludlow 21 are calling on Shropshire Council to assess the economic impact of ending Sunday services and to hold back from implementing the bus strategy’s proposals.
They will hold a public meeting at the Gateway on Saturday to garner more support to fight the plans.
They drew comparison with the bus strategy’s stat-ement that research commissioned by Shropshire Council and others showed that the relatively small scale Shropshire Hills walkers’ services had an economic benefit of £62,000 for a season.
Peter Gilbert, from Transition Town Shrewsbury, said: “We know from resear-ch elsewhere in England that town centres depend very much on revenue from shoppers who arrive by bus.
“It’s clear that in the current difficult trading conditions the loss of a significant chunk of Sunday custom is going to affect businesses. And workers who work on Sundays, or travel home after work on the evening services, are going to find it difficult to keep their jobs.”
John Hall, chairman of the Shop in the Loop group, said traders were concerned about the proposals.
He said: “Anything that makes it more difficult for people to get into the town centre is clearly going to affect town centre trade.”
Martin Taylor-Smith, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for transport and IT, said the authority was facing significant pressure to make spending cuts.
He said: “We understand the importance of public transport to access essential services, especially for those more vulnerable and living in rural areas, and we will strive to protect this.
“However, as some services are subsided up to £21 per passenger journey, we need to make tough decisions if we are to protect key bus services which are fit for Shropshire in the future.”
Saturday’s public meeting will start at 2pm.
By Russell Roberts
UK News
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I live on Heath Farm and totally rely on public transport along with many other Heath Farm residents. The government want people to use public transport but the cost is increasing all the time and services are being cut – how can this help?
I am a pensioner and I am already about to lose the free service before 9.30 am when the buses are quiet and pensioners are going to lose the free Park & Ride service if we are lucky enough to be given a lift anywhere.
The pension is only going to go up by a very small amount but costs are going through the roof.
Oerhaps councils should look to cutting all these housing benefits to lazy able bodied people and would then be able to offer a fair review.
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the park and ride service is subsidised by the council, the oap bus passes are also subsidised by the council, therefore if a subsidised bus pass is used on a subsidised bus service the outcome is the council do not make enough money to cover the costs. its got to a stage now where people going to work and WHO PAY are unable to get a seat because theyre all taken by oaps on bus passes spoo so the council have taken the step of banning the concessions on these services. the ‘before 0930 rule’ is i think to combat people using subsidised bus passes to go to work. if people are well enough to work then there well enough to pay, and no the buses are not quiet before 0930 thats the normal time people are going to work and students are going to college. if people are paying and cant even get a seat because the bus is full of oaps on free passes whove got nothing better to do than go to town day in day out then the ‘before 0930 rule’ is a very good thing. sorry to be blunt but thats the way it is
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With the UK in recession,the council needs to do everything it can to bring shoppers in to our town centres.
Otherwise I fear quite a number of shops will close,shops are struggling to compete with the internet as it is.
What planet are the council living on by cutting bus services into Shrewsbury.
Do they want it to become a ghost town ?
Then they won’t get their business rates-not rocket science is it?
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the late services are a complete waste of council money. people are up in arms about the council withdrawing them but exactly how many people actually use them??. sutton farms have a 1/2 hourly service at night yet i bet i can count on my hands the amount of people who use it. ive just finished a late shift on 25s 24s and 20s, from 720pm till 2343 ive taken a grand total of £16.00, that works out to about 10 paying passengers. so how much is it actually costing the council to pay for all these services when theyre running about empty??
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Bus services are a vital part of any local economy. The fact that OAP’s receive subsidised travel is a good thing. Because Pensioners have money to spend, and their custom on the bus allows the bus company to plan service. Take the pensioner off the bus, and the range and size of the network will alter, as would the price to all those that did not have a pensioner pass!
Take the bus out of the town and trade in shops will decline,as will the town! So I do hope the elected Members do add the correct weight to the arguments about axing bus service….!
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