Written evidence from D Hibberd, Town
Councillor, Wincanton (BUS 79)
I enclose a copy of a letter sent to the leader of
Somerset County Council for your information. I am very concerned
about the effect these cuts will have in the rural areas, in particular
on the young and the elderly. Despite all the talk about global
warming and public transport the simple fact is that at every
step the non-driver is disadvantaged. More and more we are expected
to use a car as there is no other means of transport. This is
a rural county and subsidies should be used in the countryside
not in the major towns.
Please can you support this plea for a rethink on
essential bus services by writing to Somerset County Council and
pointing out the damage to those who are disadvantaged?
Thank you in anticipation of your help.
APPENDIX
LETTER TO KEN MADDOCK, SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL
Please can you have the cancellation of the buses
from and to Wincanton reconsidered? There are less people living
in the country areas and thus less people using the buses. But
these buses which are about to be axed are the lifeline of those
living in the rural areas or who have no car (or a 4 x 4) to get
to the shops, post office, hospital appointments, and other essential
visits. In the summer families used to use them for days out.
Young people still use buses to get to college, jobs, cinema and
theatre. The Sunday buses are a blessing for those who need to
travel through to Bristol, for the airport or to the bigger shopping
centres. The late night bus from Yeovil is essential to return
from the cinema or theatre.
Buses could be ideal for visiting hospitals, thus
leaving car parks for those who just must use their cars. What
happened to the campaign to use public transport etc, to save
the planet.
I, being a pensioner, and using the buses a lot with
my bus pass would be willing to pay a reasonable fee to renew
the bus pass, although I do pay council tax which I understand
helps to subsidise the buses. Maybe all these council workers
should think about using the bus to travel to work and leave their
cars at home.
The decline of the High Street in Wincanton is critical,
we are over supplied with foreign eating houses and estate agents
and an acute shortage of retail shops selling the essentials of
everyday life. At the same time we are being inundated with houses
and flats on every green patch in the town.
These will be occupied with workers who have to travel
up to twenty miles if they need to work to live. Too many people
travel outside the town to work and therefore do their shopping
elsewhere leaving the elderly and inform deprived of the basics
to maintain independence.
I am enclosing a petition signed by several hundred
bus passengers to plead with the county council to think again
and reinstate the subsidies for our late night bus especially,
and also to look again at the Sunday services, maybe reduce but
not remove altogether.
March 2011
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