Local activists join Cllr Tristan Osborne to campaign to protect local transport services
Medway Labour Councillors and local activists spent the day yesterday speaking to local people at Chatham’s new open-air bus station, to gauge local views on bus and train fare increases, and to support the campaign by Maria Eagle MP to devolve more responsibilities for bus services to local authorities in order to tackle this problem.
This comes as train fares are also rising: Medway residents will now have to pay over £5,000 for an annual season ticket to travel into London via HS1. Fares have increased by huge margins because of inflation, despite the pledges to the contrary by Conservative MPs Mark Reckless, Tracey Crouch and Rehman Chisthi prior to the General Election 2010.
The average Medway train ticket into London Stations has risen by 6.0% (1).
- Monthly Season Ticket: £319.20 to £338.40
- Annual Season Ticket (HS1): £4,760 to £5,036
- Annual Season Ticket: £3,324 to £3,524
In addition, since the Tories took power we have seen bus usage in Medway fall from 9.3m journeys to 8.9m journeys in one year alone (2). This comes in addition to the £10m budgeted for the botched Chatham ‘dynamic’ bus station, which is double the original budget estimate.
Buses are vital, connecting people with town centres, jobs, colleges, shopping, family and friends, and when bus services are cut, people’s lives are badly affected. Tory cuts have significant implications for bus services in England; nearly half of bus operating revenue comes from public sources, so any reductions from such sources are highly relevant.
First, support for local authorities overall was cut by 28%, and funding for local buses was no longer ring-fenced.
Secondly, changes in the formula for concessionary travel reimbursement have taken about £100 million away from local authorities.
Thirdly, the Government announced a 20% reduction in the bus service operators grant, a form of fuel duty rebate, to take effect from April 2012. That will affect all bus services, commercial as well as subsidised, and is estimated to remove around £60 million from the industry.
The cost of fuel has also put up bus operators’ costs and, inevitably, has put pressure on services.
Indeed, the Tory-led government’s budget allocation for Medway transport was significantly cut by the government from £3.5m per year to £1.5m per year. As a result Medway(3) has seen:
- Single fares up by 10p or 20p. e.g. Single fare on the 181 from Street End Road to Weeds Wood will go from £2.20 to £2.40 (9% increase)
- Inner Medway day ticket up from £4.00 to £4.20 (5%)
- Inner Medway week ticket up from £16 to £17 (6%)
- Inner Medway 4-week ticket up from £47 to £50 (6%)
- Inner Medway annual ticket up from £470 to £500 (6%)
- Medway day ticket up from £5.20 to £5.50 (6%) Medway week ticket up from £21 to £22 (5%)
Medway 4-week ticket up from £68 to £72 (6%) Medway annual ticket up from £670 to £720 (7%)
Additionally, the popular ‘Happy Max’ deal and evening fares will no longer be available. Arriva claim that they have scrapped their ‘Happy Max’ fare deal for financial reasons arising from a loss of Medway Council subsidies, but Medway Council claims that no subsidies have been cut.
Unsurprisingly, local people have a lot of concerns about how Medway’s transport network is being run.
Deputy Leader of Medway Labour Group Vince Maple, has written to Glenn Shuttleworth, Operations Manager at Arriva to highlight local residents concerns:
“Arriva is the largest provider of bus services in Medway, responsible for around 95% of services according to recent council reports, so the service they deliver is critical to Medway residents.”
“Residents have raised concerns around recent above inflation price increases and because of this we have asked for a clear breakdown as to the reasons why such a level of increase is required, particularly in these difficult financial times, and what Arriva is planning to ensure this doesn’t lead to a large down turn in bus usage”
“Alongside the fare increases mentioned above, particular concern has been raised on the issue of the Happy Max fare scheme being withdrawn. The scheme, which operated on a Sunday and after 7pm, clearly allowed passengers greater access to bus services – especially those who had limited income. What will Arriva be doing to ensure those parts of the community, which made great use of the service, are not priced out of bus travel.”
Please read the full response to his challenge here.
Regular commuter Cllr Tristan Osborne said,
“It was quite clear during the General Election that none of the Conservative MPs could keep their pledges on train fares and that has hurt the average commuter, who quite rightly feel let down by the current government at a time when they are tightening their belts.”
“Medway Labour has consistently challenged South Eastern on train fares. We tabled a motion in Full Council in late 2010 calling for Medway MPs to get a grip on fares which was passed on a cross-party basis, and have been regularly campaigning at train stations across the Towns.”
“Medway residents using HS1 will now have to pay over £5,000 for an annual season ticket because of Mark Reckless, Tracey Crouch and Rehman Chisthi, who are themselves entitled to Parliamentary transport subsidy”
Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, responding to the Competition Commission’s report into the local bus industry, said:
“A combination of the Government’s cuts to funding for local bus services and the deregulated nature of bus services outside London has already seen a fifth of all supported bus services in England face the axe this year.”
“The reality is that bus deregulation outside London is a dogmatic experiment that has failed. While Transport for London has been able to introduce the Oyster card, set bus routes, decide fare levels and integrate bus and train services, the rest of England has been left behind. That’s why our policy review has been looking at how we can devolve more transport responsibilities with decisions made locally by integrated transport authorities, as London has now, with powers to deliver local bus services in the way that best suits each community.”
“It’s time that passengers across England were able to benefit from a properly managed, integrated transport network with smart ticketing and regulated fares on local bus and rail services.”
Notes:
1) National Rail Enquiries Season Ticket Calculator – http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/seasonticket/search
2) Local authority level in the following table – http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/bus0109.xls
3) Medway Fare Rises – http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/multi-journey-saver-tickets-in-south-east/New Fares http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Updates/South_East/TICKET_LEAFLET_MEDWAY.pdf
