Claims and counter claims

"There will be lots of winners. Thousands of people will get an improved service".

There has been a lot of discussion about the impending changes to Citybus services in Plympton. A lot of this has stemmed from those opposed to the sale of Citybus who see any slight change as being a vindication of their opposition. Now it seems that the company has responded to the claims of cutbacks: This is Plymouth: THE new boss of Citybus has denied claims he is cutting Plympton's bus services. Labour parliamentary candidate Luke Pollard said new bus timetables planned for later in the year amounted to cuts in the newly privatised service. Andrew Wickham, managing director of Citybus, which was sold to Go-Ahead last year, said he was increasing the frequency of services and employing ten new drivers for Plympton. Mr Pollard, the candidate for the South West Devon parliamentary seat, said: "Citybus is re-zoning one area at a time so we can expect similar changes across the city. "Some areas, especially Woodford, will lose their services and some services will take longer. What happens to Plympton will happen to the rest of the city. "The council promised when it sold Citybus that there would be no cuts to routes for six months. These changes will come in just after the six-month period. "You can see the impact of the sell-off, which is cuts to routes and jobs." Mr Wickham said: "I don't know where Mr Pollard gets his information. We are putting more buses into Plympton." He said the changes would happen on June 6, about the same time as major roadworks begin in Gdynia Way. "We believe these roadworks will be very disruptive and the new services will be able to recover more easily from that because they are more flexible." "We are creating 10 extra driver jobs, so that can't be called a cut. There will be a few people who feel a disbenefit — we estimate about six people out of about 3,000 a day who use our services. "There will be lots of winners. Thousands of people will get an improved service." Mr Pollard said that Citybus was improving some routes where it was in competition with First buses, but less profitable routes would be hit. "It's only going to affect a small number of people in Plympton, but what everybody will be able to see is that the service is being changed," he said. There is a summary of the changes due HERE (PDF) but here is a quick run down of the changes: Service 20 City Centre to Merafield every 30 minutes Mon- sat. Amados Drive - Cothill - Plymouth rd - Mudge Way - Moorland Road then Marsh Mills - Prince Rock - City Centre Service 21 City Centre - Steer Park every 10 mins Mon- Sat. Steer Park - Chaddlewood - then as the current inbound 51 to City Centre. Service 22 City centre - Lipson Vale - Plympton st Maurice every 20 mins. (Mon - sat) Operates Chaddlewood via Crest Hill then as current 21 to Marsh Mills then via Lipson Vale -0 Mayflower Street. Its not just Plympton services that see change: Service 58 Improved service to replace 58 and 59. Service 26 Evening services withdrawn from Saltash Service 45 Changes due to the road works in Prince rock Service 50 Evenings and Sundays will no longer divert as the 50A into Cattedown. (Excellent news as far as I am concerned - should improve reliability no end as timings have always seemed very tight on this section) Service 152 Change on route within Saltash This is just a very quick note of the changes which will be looked at more closely over the coming weeks...

Uncle Terry 083: Sign on TGP - the other Terry! Devonshire red Omnibuses arriva-indretter-krlighedssder-i-bussen Arriva get Frisky - but not in this country - yet PTOTPA Royal DuchySteam again in Plymouth Transport of delight Hot - in Northampton: Coach fire What do the election Manifestos say on Transport? A quick guide: Conservatives Lib Dems Labour Green Party UKIP 04 May 2010 16:46 FIRST PLYMOUTH: You can now buy a range of value season tickets from The George Junction Park & Ride with a credit/debit card FIRST Plymouth East End Transport Scheme works: Elliott Road Bridge Closure affecting Service 48 journeys from Sunday 16th May until end November 2010: