I know I am a bit late with this one but Wembury Parish Council have a nice little update on the situation with the 48 service:
First Bus Company is stopping the Wembury 48 Bus Service on 27 November 2010. Devon County Council subsequently put this route out to tender for a replacement bus operator to commence a new bus service on 28 November 2010. No existing bus operator has tendered to provide a commercial service, which means that any future bus service to Wembury has to be subsidised by Devon CC. Several Parish Councillors and two Bus User group members met the leader of Devon CC, Cllr Hart, to discuss the returned tenders on 10 November.
The bus operator, who requires the least subsidy, is the First Bus Company. However, to provide the same as the existing bus service will cost £69,000 per year and Devon CC cannot afford this. After much discussion, it was reluctantly agreed that a reduced daytime service would be financially possible, costing Devon CC an extra £8,000 per year, on top of the current commitment of £18,000.
To provide an evening service would cost an extra £20,000 and was not deemed viable for the usage, however, it may be possible to provide a Sunday service for an extra £9,000 per year. It was also agreed that the Bus User group would speak to Devon CC to discuss the daytime routing, scheduling and possible options for achieving a late evening service. The meeting recommended that Devon CC agree to the reduced daytime service and a Sunday service with First.
However, Devon CC would only guarantee this service until April 2011, when the government will be reviewing the subsidy for public transport. The bus service to schools is not affected as this is already provided by Devon CC. Whilst not satisfactory, I hope that this explains the current situation.
Roy Fairclough, Clerk to the Council.
Its interesting to see some of the figures involved in these discussions as all to often passengers have no idea how much things cost!
First have now announced the changes:
Due to a re-tendering exercise by Devon County Council we are pleased to announce that we will continue to operate service 48 from Sunday 28th November.
A revised timetable will operate on this service from this date, which includes the removal of evening journeys. The revised timetable and routing also affects some schools in Plymouth, as follows:
Notre Dame & St Boniface Service 48 will no longer serve Notre Dame or Tavistock Road (affecting some St Boniface pupils). Those wishing to travel between Plymouth City Centre and Notre Dame School should catch service 15 (stand A15 on Royal Parade) or service 83/84/86 (stand A18 on Royal Parade) and alight/board at the Windsor House (by B&Q) bus stop or using the stop on the other side of the road just past Derriford Roundabout. Those wishing to travel between Plymouth City Centre and Tavistock Road for St Boniface should also catch service 15 or services 83/84/86 and alight/board at the St Boniface College, Crownhill stop or the Crownhill Low Level stop on the other side of the road. Between them services 15, 83, 84, 86 offer up to 7 journeys an hour
DHS for Boys & DHS for Girls The routing of service 48 school days journeys to DHS for Girls and DHS for Boys will also be altered. Morning service 48 journey will operate from Royal Parade via Mutley Plain, Peverell Park Road, Outland Road, Milehouse Road, Devonport Road and Paradise Road, terminating outside DHS for boys. Afternoon journeys will commence in Millbridge outside Victoria Park and not from the bus stop on Paradise Road where morning journeys drop off. It will then travel via Molesworth Road, Milehouse Road, Outland Road and then operating the reverse journey to Royal Parade via Western Approach.
Coombe Dean The afternoon service 48 school day journey will no longer operate via Coombe Dean. Coombe Dean pupils wishing to travel to Mutley Plain should catch service 6 to Royal Parade and then change to catch ugobus service 15 (stand A15) or services 84/86 (stand A18) which between them offer up to 5 buses an hour via Mutley Plain
Timetables before and after the change can be found on Plymothian Transit Extra
Hybrid technology isn’t for the faint hearted and, to date, has been confined to London and the big groups, notably Stagecoach. Yet, two smaller operators are seizing the moment. Are they mad? Omnibuses
FDC say “Due to a re-tendering exercise by Devon County Council” I thought they were the ones that started it by cancelling the 48 from 28th November 2010? As you say very interesting to see some of the costs though.
ReplyDelete.....as well as the Wembury service, the Sunday service to Burrator will also continue......
ReplyDeleteGood move by FDC I say, threaten to cancel the service then retender and win the route back...to be honest I thought First would win the service back. Its a pity they couldnt win the 39/39a etc instead of Target!!!
ReplyDelete