UPDATE! 4th December 2019
Following the broadcast on BBC Radio Suffolk today of comments from Bentley and Tattingstone residents about the impact the loss of our bus services has had and the response from Stephen Bryce of Ipswich Buses, we have written the following email to County Councillor Andrew Reid who is responsible for Transport, Highways and Rural Affairs.
Dear Andrew
It is now clear (hopefully to all) that the withdrawal of funding by Suffolk County Council for the 94A bus has had a much greater impact than just withdrawing that under-used bus service.
From Ipswich Buses point of view, they were using that subsidy, rightly or wrongly, to support the whole of the 94 service and so withdrew all buses when the subsidy was withdrawn saying they weren’t commercially viable. We suspect the reason they were saying they weren’t viable was because most of the passengers were using bus passes. However we know from local knowledge and travelling on that bus that the mid morning 94 WAS well used with at least 25-30 passengers per day coming from Capel, Bentley and Tattingstone villages into Ipswich. In fact despite withdrawing that bus along with the others on the 94 route, Ipswich Buses now have ADDED an additional mid-morning service to the 93 route running via Capel and Copdock and Washbrook to replace the old 94 at that time presumably because they know this service is well used!
It is evident from our meeting with them and their subsequent letter that they are not going to change their mind about re-routing that precious mid morning service via Bentley and Tattingstone.
From Suffolk County Council’s point of view, they have this new funding methodology which would appear to facilitate (good) decision making. Yes the 94A service wasn’t well used (although an essential rural service to get into Ipswich to work) and so we understand the need to make cuts to THIS service. But the decision to cut this subsidy has had an enormous knock on effect on our two communities. Our two villages are now stuck between a rock and a hard place with Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Buses both blaming each other for the cuts in bus services and justifying their decisions with the numbers using the 94A service only which we know isn’t a true reflection of passenger numbers.
It is easy to make instant black and white decisions when dealing with funding ‘algorithms' but much harder to make fairer decisions when the reality is grey.
Despite working hard with Connecting Communities, and promoting their services to our residents, the very limited service they can offer hasn’t had any take up mainly due to the fact that residents would have to catch the 8.45 bus into Ipswich which is far too early for most of our elderly or disabled residents.
The decision makers in Suffolk County Council must take a step back and look at the whole human picture here. Rural isolation and the inability to be able to connect to our basic core services just 2 miles away by public transport is a real issue and can’t be ignored.
Kind regards
Marianne Munday
Kate Spicer
Councillors Bentley Parish Council
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07smxsb
9.20 minutes in - Tattingstone residents
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07smxsq
1:24:24 minutes in - Bentley residents
UPDATE! 26th November 2019
We have received an email from Simon Barnett, Passenger Transport, Suffolk County Council (see below) with Ipswich Buses response.
Dear All,
Please see attached letter from Ipswich Buses.
As we had feared, they do not feel able to adjust any of the current services or create something new to bring back more buses to Bentley (plus Tattingstone and Wherstead).
The position here remains the same in terms of our ability to fund a replacement route, with external money being required unless we are willing to remove another service elsewhere in the County. I am sure you will appreciate that the latter option is not possible due to how our contracted routes were scored to meet our reduced budget, but I will continue to seek out alternative funding sources.
Simon Barnett
Transport Development Manager
Passenger Transport
Suffolk County Council
UPDATE! 22nd November 2019
Councillors Kate Spicer and Marianne Munday, along with County Councillors Andrew Reid, Gordon Jones, and Dave Woods, met with the General Manager and Operational Manager of Ipswich Buses on 6th November to discuss a way forward for restoring some of our withdrawn bus services. Two possible solutions were put to them to restore the popular 10.30 bus which would not involve adding another bus to the route. They said they would consider these and get back to Suffolk County Council with their decision by the following week. To date, Suffolk County Council are still awaiting a response from Ipswich Buses...
UPDATE! 31st October 2019
From 4th November there will only be one Ipswich Buses bus service from Bentley and Tattingstone into Ipswich in the morning and one return service in the afternoon. This new service will also drop off and pick up students from Suffolk One.
This new 94 service will run from Bentley War Memorial at 8.44, Tattingstone Wheatsheaf at 8.49 and arrive in Ipswich at 9.26 (Mon-Fri only).
The return service will run from Ipswich at 15.45 returning to Bentley at 16.23.
We realise this is too long for most people to stay in Ipswich so we have organised a connection service with Connecting Communities rural transport to connect with a return 93 service from THE STREET CAPEL ST MARY to Bentley and Tattingstone.
See timetable below:
Tuesdays and Fridays |
||
From Bentley |
To Ipswich |
Service |
8.44 |
9.26 |
Ipswich Buses 94 |
From Ipswich |
To The Street, Capel St Mary |
|
13.50 |
14.15 |
Ipswich Buses 93 |
From The Street, Capel |
To Bentley/Tattingstone |
|
14.15 |
14.20-14.25 approx |
Connecting Communities |
|
|
|
Thursdays |
||
From Bentley |
To Ipswich |
Service |
8.44 |
9.26 |
Ipswich Buses 94 |
From Ipswich |
To The Street, Capel St Mary |
|
11.50 |
12.15 |
Ipswich Buses 93 |
From The Street, Capel |
To Bentley/Tattingstone |
|
12.15 |
12.20-12.25 approx |
Connecting Communities |
IMPORTANT!
To use the Connecting Communities service you must do the following BEFORE travelling –
- Phone them on 01473 826242 between 9.00 and 15.00 Mon – Fri
- Register with them, giving your name, address and contact phone number
- Let them know if you use shopping trolleys or walking aids
- You MUST book each journey with them up to a week in advance
Fares – concessionary bus passes can be used on all Ipswich Bus services. There will be a small charge for Connecting Communities of £2.10 for single journey to Bentley and £2.60 for single journey to Tattingstone. This should be paid in cash to the driver.
We realise that this is not a perfect solution and we will continue to fight for the restoration of our bus service. In the meantime this is the best that Connecting Communities can offer with their current level of resources.
If you have any comments or questions etc please don’t hesitate to contact your Bentley or Tattingstone Parish Councillors –
Kate Spicer (Bentley) on katespicer@aol.com
Marianne Munday (Bentley) on mmunday.bentley@gmail.com
Sue Gipps (Tattingstone) on suegipps@btinternet.com
UPDATE 25th October 2019
We have been in correspondence with Ipswich Buses, Suffolk County Council and Connecting Communities to try and get a resolution to the withdrawal of nearly all buses from the 94A, 94 and 94C services.
Here is an email that was sent yesterday to Gordon Jones our County Councillor and below that his reply. We will keep you updated on subsequent correspondence.
Please click here to view the new 94 timetable from Ipswich Buses which will run from 4th November. This will run one service a day from Bentley to Ipswich via Suffolk One in the morning and back from Ipswich via Suffolk One to Bentley in the afternoon. One bit of good news is pensioners can use their concessionary bus passes on this service even though it is before 9.30.
Dear Gordon
and Gordon Jones' reply -
Dear Marianne,
Thank you for expressing these concerns, I do appreciate the frustrations currently being felt by Bentley and other parishes at present following the reduction in funding for local bus services. Hopefully this information will clarify the matter for you somewhat:
The 92/93/94 group of services were in receipt of some financial support from Suffolk County Council – when Ipswich Buses purchased the operations and routes of the former Carters Coach Services they concluded that some additional finance was required in order to retain the all of these routes. We thus agreed a contract with them which was intended only to fund the 94A service from Hadleigh to Ipswich via East Bergholt, with the other routes operating on a commercial basis.
Our money for funding such routes has been reduced over the intervening years and then again in the Council's 2019/20 budget. Rather than relying solely on officer knowledge and baseline cost, a cross-party working group was established this year to determine how we should make best use of the limited bus service budget. This developed a methodology which assessed all contracts via several criteria. These were overall contract cost, number of single passenger journeys made per day, percentage of use by concessionary pass holders, whether any students entitled to free home to school travel used the route, what times/days it ran and how well it integrated with the rest of the network.
The contract for route 94A did not score highly so was identified as at risk through this process. Discussions were started with Ipswich Buses in late June to see if they would be able to carry on the route without support from us. During these conversations the company revealed that although it was only designed to support the one route, they had in fact been using the funding across all of their south Suffolk routes. They stated that they would have to look at the network as a whole and re-design it to operate without the subsidy but at that stage did not know what the changes might be. This is why the information shared with parishes and the media only referred to service 94A as that was what the contract was supposed to be funding.
The changes to other contracts Justin Wythe refers to were actually a suggestion that we cancel the services from Hitcham to Ipswich and between Felixstowe and Woodbridge that the company operate for us. Acknowledging that we have a reduced budget for local buses they thought that we should put that money into the south Suffolk routes instead. Those particular contracts had been assessed along with all the others and had scored much higher against the new criteria so were not at risk of withdrawal. It would not be appropriate to remove reasonably successful routes elsewhere in order to enable Ipswich Buses to continue operating services that, under the current contract arrangements, should have been sustainable on a commercial basis without our support.
Although discussions continued over the summer, and operators are supposed to give 70 days’ notice of changes, we did not received the revised timetables from Ipswich Buses until 28th September which was when we learned that the entire 94 service was to be cancelled. I was not able to share the information at the meeting on 5thSeptember for that reason. Upon receipt of the registration documents and their release to the public, officers immediately contacted Ipswich Buses to see if any journeys on route 94 could be reinstated, however the company was adamant that this would not be possible without the funding we no longer have. Through examination of other routes, we have been able to re-assign students on services elsewhere in the county to free up a vehicle operated under a home to school contract by Ipswich Buses which is going to provide the college time trips you refer to. This has only been possible as a short term solution for now, as there is no additional budget to support this, and patronage will be monitored closely. If the service does not generate sufficient passengers it will also have to end. Please note that because this will be the only bus from the village, it will be possible to use concessionary passes on it even though it leaves before 0930.
I am aware of the comments made on Radio Suffolk and also the concern over concessionary fares. Although the 1040 journey may well carry 25-30 people, this level of use is not consistent across the rest of the day. Over the 2018/19 financial year the contract returns from Ipswich Buses indicated that they were only providing an average of 25 single passenger journeys per day – equivalent to 12 ort 13 return trips. I appreciate that the way the company used our finances to support the whole network means that this may not reflect the true patronage on any given route, but we can only go by the information they give us. Without the subsidy it is not economically (or environmentally) viable for the company to run a large bus back and forth for a handful of passengers, most of whom do not contribute directly to the operating costs by paying fares. The level of reimbursement under the concessionary fare scheme is set according to national guidelines from the government, who also provide the funding that we then distribute to the operators. This level cannot be altered at a local level but will require a change in legislation.
The passenger transport team have been seeking alternative travel options for those who will no longer have a scheduled bus and for the time-being these will be through the Connecting Communities services. Whilst the pre-booked nature of these means they are not suitable for spontaneous travel as with a normal bus, they can offer a much increased range of journeys by providing connections to different routes. Like yourself, officers have been discussing options with Hadleigh Community Transport as the local provider and they did note that up until 24th October they had only received two enquiries from individuals. It is true that they will not be able to offer a journey every day at any time, however, they are hopeful that a solution can be found that will suit the majority of users and will be reporting back to us after your scheduled discussion on Monday 28th. Many of the comments we have received from those losing their buses is that they enjoy travelling in groups – this is ideal for the Connecting Communities options as it allows them to make best use of their vehicles by providing one journey for many rather than trying to accommodate multiple different requests.
Ultimately, public transport in rural areas depends upon fares income or local authority support to survive. We are working to do as much as possible within our limited resources but cannot prioritise buses over other demands on the council’s budget such as provision of care, education or the fire service. The team are looking at enhancements to the demand responsive services, including systems that should enable users to book travel at 30 minute’s notice rather than the day or week before, and we are hopeful that once people try the services they will find them more useful than an infrequent bus that only goes to one destination.
I note the comments from the District Councillor and look forward to receiving details of the subsidy that Babergh are proposing to give to support uneconomic bus routes in their district.
Regards
Gordon
MONDAY 7TH OCTOBER
EMAIL SENT FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL TO MARY EVANS, SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCILLOR
Dear Cllr Evans
I am writing on behalf of, and at the request of, Bentley Parish Council to record our dismay and concern at the planned complete withdrawal of all bus services to Bentley village.
We were on notice that the early service, 94A, was due to be withdrawn, and had registered our concern at the loss of this service, which is essential for workers and students, with Cllr Jones, and we were expecting a response. The prospective loss of all services came without warning.
We regard this total loss of service as running entirely counter to Suffolk’s stated green policy, to policy supporting independence and social support for elderly residents, and planning policy which demands easy access to services as a prerequisite for rural development, at a time when the Babergh local plan is proposing significant development in the village.
We feel that with an imaginative approach – using smaller, more energy efficient and green (e.g. electric) transport, the services to rural village could be developed and made more cost efficient. In the meantime the abrupt cessation of service reflects very badly on the Councils spending priorities and regard for rural communities. We hope it will be reconsidered.
Yours sincerely
Dr Michael Bamford
Chair, Bentley Parish Council
Blackthorns
Link Lane
Bentley
Ipswich IP9 2DP
Tel. 01473310158
Mob. 07707905889