about a week ago we had this story:
Plymouth City Council has issued a warning to people who use the number two bus between Plymouth and Mount Batten. The council has said the service is at risk of being withdrawn unless more people use it.
The Council has stepped in to offer temporary funding support for a number of journeys that Stagecoach South West says are no longer commercially viable.
The services the council is supplementing include departures from Mount Batten Pier towards the city centre at 8.30pm, 9.30pm,10.30pm and 11.30pm and departures from the city centre towards Mount Batten Pier at 8.01pm (from Sugar Mill), 9pm, 10pm, 11pm and 11.58pm every Monday to Friday.
On Saturday's the council will also be running departures from Mount Batten Pier towards the city centre at 8.30pm, 9.30pm,10.30pm and 11.30pm and departures from the city centre towards Mount Batten Pier at 8pm (from Sugar Mill), 9pm, 10pm, 11pm and 11.57pm.
The council will also cover some services on a Sunday and Bank Holidays, these include departures from Mount Batten Pier towards the city centre at 8.30pm, 9.30pm,10.30pm and 11.30pm and departures from the city centre towards Mount Batten Pier at 8.10pm (from Sugar Mill), 9pm, 10pm, 11pm and 11.55pm.
Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, said: “We understand how important this service is to the residents of Hooe, Mount Batten and Turnchapel and how much of an impact withdrawing these evening journeys would have. Stagecoach South West had planned to withdraw them from 3 November but we have been able to step in with temporary support until 31 March 2025, demonstrating our commitment to providing services that connect people to key places.
“However, we have to stress that this is being funded by a short-term grant, in the hope that passenger numbers will increase enough for Stagecoach to continue the journeys on a commercial basis. I’d encourage people to use the evening services wherever possible to secure their long-term future.”
The temporary subsidy is being funded by the Department for Transport’s Bus Service Improvement Plan Phase 2 grant, which has also been used to boost the frequency of the service throughout the day between 7am and 7pm. Stagecoach South West says an additional 35 passengers are needed each evening to ensure the commercial viability of these services. This is around four or five additional passengers per journey.
A spokesperson for Stagecoach South West said: “We are committed to connecting the people of Plymouth to the people and places they need to get to the most.
“Like all transport providers some routes are more popular than others and we are currently seeing a decline in patronage on the Service 2 in the evenings. We are working with our partners at Plymouth City Council to continue to provide a regular services in the evenings on this route thanks to the Department for Transport’s Bus Service Improvement Plan Phase 2 funding. We now need the local community to support this service in the evenings to secure its long-term future.”
To view the latest timetable, visit www.stagecoachbus.com/timetables.
The today we get this..
Plymouth has been given £4.5m from the Government to improve bus services. The cash is part of a wider £1bn funding package for councils across the country to invest in bus services and is designed to enhance popular routes, protect rural services and increase bus use for shopping, socialising, and commuting.
Moor View’s Labour MP Fred Thomas welcomed the windfall in Parliament and praised the Government for investing in Plymouth, its people, communities and buses. In the House of Commons, Mr Thomas said: “What a fantastic day for every person in Plymouth who uses the bus and we welcome, strongly, the secretary of state’s announcement of £4.5m being invested in our buses over the next couple of years. But the secretary of state said that this doesn’t just represent an investment in buses but also an investment in people and in communities, and that is fantastic to hear. And will she agree with me that this represents today the Labour Government investing in Plymouth?”
Louise Haigh, secretary of state for transport, answered Mr Thomas by saying: “I’m very grateful to confirm that we are investing in Plymouth and Plymouth’s people and Plymouth’s buses. Buses are an enormous engine of social justice because, as I said earlier, it is particularly the most deprived that rely on them the most and I’m afraid that is why they have been so badly neglected in this place for so long. But with this Labour Government that absolutely turns around and buses are my priority and this Labour Government’s priority.”
Labour said that under the previous Conservative Government, thousands of bus services in England were cut. The effects of that were felt in Plymouth under a Conservative administration when five routes were cut in 2022, Mr Thomas said.
Since then, he said, the Labour administration has managed to restore some of those routes and the newly announced additional funding will support further improvements to the city’s bus network. Mr Thomas said: “This news is incredibly welcome in Plymouth. There are many folks here who rely on our buses but under the previous government, and recent local Conservative administrations, we have suffered cuts to our services.
“This new funding will allow the council to invest in our buses and deliver better services for people in Plymouth. During the general election we promised that we would deliver better buses for every community, and this news just shows that we are already delivering on that promise.”
Mark Coker, Plymouth City Council ’s cabinet member for transport, said: “This is a very welcome announcement and shows how seriously this Labour Government takes investment in our bus network. I look forward to announcing in due course what specific improvements to our city’s bus services in 2025/6 this funding will enable.”
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/massive-boost-plymouth-bus-users-9726774
It will be interesting to see what plans they come up with for Plymouth. Will the Mount batten buses be saved? Should the Mount Batten buses be saved?
I know many readers will have their own suggestions so go ahead – how would you spend the money to improve our buses in Plymouth?
I will be looking at the other areas across Devon & Cornwall to see how they spend their allocation too… If you see anything in your local area I might have missed please let me know!
The 20A needs to run on full route on Sundays, the 5/5A to be extended to saltash and we need a bus route from plymstock to plympton via sherford.
ReplyDeleteThey can't extend 5 to Saltash really as this will be in direct competition with Stagecoach commercial service Citybus pulled out because there wasn't enough customers there for 2 operators
Deletethe 5/A once upon a time, ran to Saltash, it was removed due to TFC / CC - so for Plymouth, the route would not be re-instated, it would have to come from Cornwall Council to fund it. Would be good to see Plympton & Plymstock joined through a 20/21 or new bus route circling from the City Centre
Deleteto be quite honest, there's no wrong, or right answer, however, i think that most people can say that in terms of journeys, the main corridors are fairly well covered, so the routes which need the most uplift are actually more likely to be buses like the 13, 14, 16, 27, 28, 41, 48. - particularly on Weekends - i know many people are still very disgruntled about the 41/42 situation in Southway.
ReplyDelete1a to be extended into evening and Sundays to serve new derriford business park and hospital better . 41 increase to every half hour perhaps. Maybe increase 61 service. 30/31 to be prolonged beyond 2 years. New service Plymoton to Plymstock via crematorium.
ReplyDeletePossible extend 200 park and ride to Milehouse P and R from city.
Well if the council hadn't sold Citybus years ago and invested in it like Reading has with Reading Buses it would be a different story. Instead of palming off money to Stagecoach they could have used their own buses to supply the night time services at a much lower cost.
ReplyDeletei don't think it's quite as simple as it being a lower cost. Obviously SC run at a commercial viability level, meaning they have to break even after paying their drivers, if it's not even doing that, then how would you know if PCC with PCB ever would have managed to do the same? It's been a long time since PCB became a GA company, a lot has changed.
DeleteFair point @TheBusGuy however, PCC would have to give Stagecoach enough incentive to keep running those services and not just giving them the bare amount to run it. That money if PCB was still owned by the council would probably be a lot less to just run the service for the sake of it.
DeleteQuite a few routes are still well down on their pre-covid service levels - routes like the 44 and 61 come to mind. I would enhance these.
ReplyDeleteCo-ordinate the timetables between City Centre and Crownhill via Mutley so there is a bus at least every five minutes during the day and every 10 minutes at night.
Trial some night buses.
Night Buses is a great shout - especially with the work going on across partnerships with Safer Plymouth, and the Safe Bus.
DeleteWe need a bus service to the new crematorium and more buses on Saturdays on the St Budeaux corridor.
ReplyDeleteSome interesting thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIt is worth remembering 20A and 48 are Devon routes, so probably not part of this. Interesting to see where the money does get spent though. Maybe all those bus shelters the council got rid of !