Bus Users Group

We had our Bus Users group meeting today at Derriford Hospital which was very well attended and quite entertaining. For change it was not all moans about the bus service as quite a few people praised the service of Plymouth Citybus on the 52 and 152 services which were taken over from First. Both are running well, but as Citybus Manager explained both are still 'very marginal' in terms of revenue so are under constant review. We all hope that the service does continue but of course the company needs to be able to run it at a profit. This is still an issue which passengers just cant see. As far as they are concerned buses are a public service and should run regardless of the cost, and certainly not just to make a profit for bus companies. Its interesting that you dont see people arguing that Tescos shouldnt make a profit selling food!
There were no major anouncements about any service changes this time.

I asked about the forthcoming "Tavy GoldLine" but didn't get much idea of when its likely to happen. It will be later this year - hopefully by 'Summer' but no more details are available yet. Apparently there was a meeting with Devon County Council taking place today to try and sort out the details. I did also lay down the point that Exeter seems to do a lot better than Plymouth and was this down to lack of co-ordination between the companies and Plymouth City Council - but just got a diplomatic response which didn't really answer my points!

There was also some discussion about the forthcoming free bus travel for pensioners and how difficult it was for bus companies such as First who cover several different council areas each with their own different free travel scheme. Devon & Cornwall have differing time restrictions in place which could make life very difficult for passengers and the bus companies trying to run services. Both companies can see likely problems but are hopeful that things will be up and running properly in time for April. I guess its a case of watch this space!