{"id":811,"date":"2007-10-05T21:54:59","date_gmt":"2007-10-05T20:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/?p=811"},"modified":"2007-10-05T22:14:03","modified_gmt":"2007-10-05T21:14:03","slug":"more-bus-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/?p=811","title":{"rendered":"More Bus Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following on from my recent rant<\/a> about bus services, it’s been announced<\/a> that more services are to be cut. The 991 Walsall to Lichfield is to be withdrawn. No surprises: It’s very infrequent, and doesn’t run in the evening, so it doesn’t get used. The perfect excuse!.<\/p>\n

I’ve had a response from Centro as well:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThank you for your recent letter concerning changes to services operated in
\nWalsall Wood to Walsall Town Centre.<\/p>\n

Please accept my personal apologies for the points you have presented which
\nare both relevant and important to bus users in an area without rail links.
\nCentro-WMPTA does have a remit to develop public transport within the region
\nand it is such aspects we wish to address and we always consider these very
\npoints.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately we are very limited in the amount of control we have over bus
\nservices. Since 1986 bus services have been deregulated and have been
\ndelivered by independent, private bus operators who have been granted a
\nlicence by the Traffic Commissioner. A system designated to provide service
\nthrough competitive operation.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So it seems they’re powerless, but frustrated by by the situation. I suppose<\/a> we have the Thatcher government to thank for this situation.<\/p>\n

It continues:<\/p>\n

\nThese private bus operators have total control over where their services
\noperate and the timetable they run. They are also, like any other business,
\noperated by demand. A majority of services are operated on this commercial
\nbasis.<\/p>\n

A small number of services are tendered by Centro-WMPTA to serve the local
\ncommunity. However, we are very limited to where we can input such services
\nby strict government guidelines. They can only be implemented in areas where
\nthere no other bus services and areas that are more than 400 metres from local
\ntransport services and to sustain a service on average around 5\/6 passengers
\non a journey.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, even if Centro wished to subsidise the service, they might not be allowed to. Brilliant.<\/p>\n

\n

In order to establish the exact strategies of a bus operator you would have to
\ncontact them directly, as they are private organisations. We can assure that we
\ndo not find the current situation suitable enough to provide all our passengers
\nneeds and the recent partnerships you have mentioned are the only way
\nCentro-WMPTA can help to readdress the balance in the passengers favour.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ll be doing this…….<\/p>\n

\nAs you have also suggested if the passenger is happy then this will be a
\nsuccess for all parties concerned. Any success experienced by Centro-WMPTA
\nin the past has been expanded upon, as physical evidence cannot be denied.
\nThis means that such a partnership could be expanded greatly to include more
\nservices and operators and therefore benefit more communities.<\/p>\n

In essence what you are seeing is the start of something that could be much
\nbigger in times to come and can see everyone benefiting from more frequent,
\nreliable and safer services. We hope you find this information helpful. Please do
\nnot hesitate to contact Centro-WMPTA for any further assistance. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, one councillor on the WMPTA has also responded as follows:<\/p>\n

\nThank you for your email.<\/p>\n

A meeting is taking place of the Transport User’s Forum at the Town Hall on 16th Oct, at 6pm. Travel operators (e.g. TWM), Centro, Rail Operators, stakeholders and members of the public attend these meetings and they are the ideal place for you to voice your concerns.<\/p>\n

I believe that Cllr Clarke, Chairman of the PTA, may well be chairing this meeting and I am confident that he will see that you receive a reply from the bus operator in question, either in writing or verbally on the night (as well as any input from Centro itself if this is a subsidised route.)<\/p>\n

I do hope this helps. I have forwarded this email to your local Cllr Mike Flower<\/a> so that he is kept informed of your enquiry.<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely<\/p>\n

Marco Longhi
\nPelsall Cllr
\nPTA Member\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ll attend the meeting and would urge anyone else interested to attend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following on from my recent rant about bus services, it’s been announced that more services are to be cut. The 991 Walsall to Lichfield is to be withdrawn. No surprises: It’s very infrequent, and doesn’t run in the evening, so it doesn’t get used. The perfect excuse!. I’ve had a response from Centro as well:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}