THURROCK Council has launched a consultation on the future of subsidised bus services in the borough.
Buses are run by privately owned companies and most routes are profitable for those companies, however the council does try to support or even pay for some routes that are not financially viable.
Cllr Oliver Gerrish, portfolio holder for transport, said: “Two years ago we supported buses to the tune of over £½ million but this year we had to cut that subsidy by more than half – to £287,000.
“That obviously had a dramatic impact on some services and was something I had to deal with immediately I took on this portfolio earlier this year.
“Next year and the two following years look worse still, so I have insisted we carry out a full consultation to talk with passengers and bus companies about what can and what cannot be done; and in good time too.”
Cllr Gerrish added: “It looks like we will have around £100,000 a year to support bus services for the next three years – and we are working hard to find other ways to help, including using money from planning gain, but that of course has to be targeted at specific areas.”
He said: “Everyone knows the council’s finances are being squeezed more and more and we have been saying that as this goes on it will affect people more and more too.
“We are looking at the way we can work differently and utilise the voluntary and charity organisations, providing them with payment for work, rather than just grants and this has worked well with Trans-Vol for example. They are now successfully bidding to run transport services.
“I am confident we will find a way forward, but equally we do need the public’s help supporting and using these bus services. It is very difficult to justify spending thousands of council tax payers’ pounds a year to keep a service running that only five or six people use a day.
“The easiest answer is for that to become 50 or 60 people a day, or better still 500 or 600 – that way the bus companies will be clamouring to run the routes.”
You can find out about current bus services in Thurrock at thurrock.gov.uk/transport where there is also a link to the consultation. Paper copies are also available in a variety of places including the council’s libraries and area offices, as well as some shops in areas such as Fobbing, Horndon-in-the-Hill and Bulphan, plus The King’s Head pub in West Tilbury and The Ship pub in East Tilbury.
