Plea to save bus service dismissed as 'bribe'

AN attempt to extend a bus service running from Thornbury to Yate and Cribbs Causeway until June has been dismissed as an “election bribe”.

The 622 service will now be axed from the start of April, along with many other subsidised bus routes in the West of England region.

The three councils in the region, including South Gloucestershire, said they couldn’t afford to increase the amount they pay to subsidise all of the services enough to cover rapidly rising costs.

Conservative council leader Toby Savage urged Labour Metro Mayor Dan Norris to pay £785,000 to keep some routes going for a couple more months, until the new dial-a-ride West Link service, which launches in April, beds in.

But Mr Norris claimed the real reason behind the calls to keep the 622 service running was due to upcoming local elections on May 4.

The two politicians disagreed on the request for extra cash, during a meeting of the West of England Combined Authority on March 17.

Cllr Savage said: "The councils did want to extend a number of supported services over several months, and we built into our budgets the increased costs next year, at the levels advised by WECA.

“Those costs have now come in higher than anyone thought they would. It’s now too late for councils to get approval for those costs. The only decision-making route open to us is today’s meeting to ensure that those vital transitional services can continue to be commissioned.

“If this doesn’t happen today, there will simply be no link between Yate and Thornbury. This will mean over 5,500 journeys will not be catered for. The only option for these passengers will be to use the DRT service from April, which we already know will have teething problems.”

Cllr Savage suggested the £785,000 could come from the West of England’s reserves. But one issue is that the West of England has some of the lowest financial reserves of all 10 combined authorities in England, according to WECA bosses.

Mr Norris said: “What Toby has said about not being able to make an emergency decision is simply not the case. There are processes that you can adopt if you wish to do that.

"I’m going to be a politician now and say that this is more about an election bribe than anything else."

The amendment to spend £785,000 of the West of England’s reserves on keeping some routes going was voted down.

Liberal Democrat Adrian Rush, representing Chipping Sodbury and Cotswold Edge, described the extension bid as "a farce", adding: "The 622 was only going to be extended for two months to tide the Tories over the elections in May, and the people relying on this bus service were still going to be struggling in June.”

Meanwhile commercial operator First has announced that the T1 service between Thornbury and Bristol will gain an extra bus every hour from April 2, when new timetables are introduced.

By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service