Merafield gets new bus link after campaign by local councillors

After campaigning by independent councillors in Plympton, Merafield has got a new bus service to reduce the impact caused by the loss of the number 19 at the end of last year.

The withdrawal of the service left Merafield residents without a direct public transport connection.

The decision of Plymouth City Council to axe the 19 was announced last November and the service ran its final journey at the end of December.

The axing of the 19 led to an outcry among the residents of Merafield, including many elderly people who feared they would become more socially isolated as it was the only bus which actually came up the hill to the Merafield area.

Following the council’s decision to axe the 19 Andrew Hill wrote to transport portfolio holder Jonathan Drean on 15 November suggesting the recently introduced service 20, funded by Devon County Council, and linking Sherford directly with Deep Lane, Langage, Lee Mill and Ivybridge, be re-routed to go through Merafield after picking up Sherford passengers.

Plympton Erle councillor Terri Beer also set up a petition against the loss of the 19 to demonstrate the strength of public feeling against the withdrawal of the service and highlighting the associated inconvenience and social isolation impact on residents. The petition had amassed over 200 signatures by the time it was handed in.

Following these representations a solution has been found involving the re-routing of a different Devon County Council subsidised bus service.

The current 59 Citybus service to the outlying villages of Sparkwell, Lutton and Cornwood s now being re-routed up Cot Hill four times a day Monday to Saturday. Once in Cot Hill the bus will follow the route of the previous 19 to Mudge Way.

Upon reaching Mudge Way these four 59 services will go back down to St Mary’s Bridge and then into Glen Road to follow the 59’s standard route to Lutton and Cornwood. It will operate in reverse when the 59 comes from Cornwood, through Plympton and into the City Centre.

The usage of the 59 in Cot Hill and Merafield will be reviewed after six months to ensure that leg of the journey has proved to be commercially viable and the travelling public are being warned it will be a question of using it or losing it.

Commenting on the original decision to axe the 19 and some other subsidised bus services and the solution now found Cllr Drean said: “We face huge financial challenges. The tender returns would have resulted in nearly £1m to be found to retain all the existing routes. It is simply not affordable and many of the routes require high subsidies due to the low overall patronage.

“I know that this was disappointing and behind the scenes Council officers and myself have been working really hard to see if there was any way that some of the routes, albeit partially, could be reintroduced.

“I would like to express my thanks to Devon County Council and Plymouth Citybus for working with us on finding a solution. But I need to emphasise to people who live on those routes that bus services can only operate if they are commercially viable. Therefore, if you don’t use them, you will unfortunately lose them.”

The new arrangements started at the end of January and come at no extra cost to Plymouth City Council. The new timetable for the 59 can be viewed at www.plymouthbus. co.uk

(story courtesy of the Plympton Podcast)