Mid Devon bus services criticised

Another council concerned

Another council has slammed Stagecoach in Devon, describing its service as “not fit for purpose.”

Mid Devon is the latest authority to criticise the company, agreeing to write to Devon County Council, the traffic commissioner and MPs to express concern at recent cuts and changes to routes.

The county council, along with Exeter and Teignbridge councillors, have also complained about Stagecoach in recent months. As a result, the firm has been summoned by the traffic commissioner to a public inquiry in October.

Stagecoach says a nationwide shortage of bus drivers means it has to concentrate on the most popular services. It is “working hard” to resolve the driver shortage and claims recent service changes are improving reliability “week by week.”

At this week’s full meeting of the council, a motion by Councillor Nikki Woollatt (Non Aligned, Cullompton North) calls for a review of recent cuts and to reinstate routes which are found to have had a “detrimental effect” on some groups.

“For example, many residents in Cullompton no longer have nearby access to the bus service to and from Exeter and can only access this route from the town centre, making this service particularly difficult to access for elderly and disabled residents and young people travelling to schools and colleges,” it explained.

The motion also lamented that “despite the reductions supposedly having been made to improve the reliability of Stagecoach services, services have continued to be cancelled at an unacceptable level leaving our residents unable to rely on travelling by bus.

“Residents have been left unable to get to and from work and health appointments on time and even on occasion left stranded. There is concern if this pattern of cancellations continues that young people who rely on the bus service to travel to and from school and college will also have their journeys disrupted.”

Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday [31 August], Cllr Woollatt added: “I can only speak for what I’ve seen in and around Cullompton, that prior to the timetable changes the service was abysmal with as many as 32 services a day being cancelled on the Exeter to Cullompton route alone.

“Even after the changes, the services were still being frequently cancelled and, although this issue has improved in recent days, still today there have been 12 services cancelled across the district.”

It was also claimed the new 373 service between Tiverton and Cullompton has “not been timetabled to connect” with the Cullompton to Exeter service, with Cllr Woollatt adding: “It’s just not been thought through.”

Further concerns were raised about the timetable on college students and the reduction of services into Uffculme, Willand, Tiverton Parkway and Tiverton.

In addition, Cllr Luke Taylor (Lib Dem, Bradninch) described how at the end of last term his daughter’s school bus failed to turn up “several times” which he thought was a safeguarding issue.

“Lots of people in my ward have complained about lack of buses turning up and failure to be able to get to work, so it is a problem that’s affecting lots and lots of people,” he said.

Cllr Colin Slade (Conservative, Castle) explained that as part of the traffic commissioner’s inquiry, bus users can send complaints in to Devon County Council dating back to October 2021 for use as evidence.

He expressed his support for the motion but stressed the county council is “already taking very strong action on this matter.”

But while Cllr Clive Eginton (Conservative, Taw Vale) concurred with the “thoughts behind his motion,” he added: “We are very fortunate in so far as, certainly in the western part of the district, we have a first-class rail service now.”

A spokesperson for Stagecoach South West said it carried out a review of its network following the pandemic “to introduce a timetable to reflect the changed travel patterns.”

This review found there was “insufficient passenger demand” for the high frequency on the long-standing 1C route, with the service therefore being “redesigned to follow a consistent routing in Cullompton”, providing a service up to every 20 minutes and passengers in Bradninch seeing an improved frequency.

They added: “In addition to the hourly service to Tiverton, the new service 373, under contract to Devon County Council sees 11 journeys daily in each direction between Tiverton and Cullompton.

“The pandemic has accelerated long-term changes to our economy and communities, including in people’s travel patterns.”

It continued: “With the current nationwide shortage of bus drivers, we need to concentrate our resource on the services where demand is greatest to ensure that vital journeys and connections are maintained and to provide a network that best meets the changing needs of the communities we serve.

“As with many industries across the country, we have been experiencing staff shortages that are beyond our control due to external factors affecting the wider transport and logistics sector.

“Our team have been working hard to resolve this and we’ve put in changes to improve the reliability of key services and keep passengers connected across our most popular routes. We have seen this improving week by week and are confident this will stabilise very soon.”

Last week Stagecoach South West’s managing director Mike Watson announced he is to leave the company in the new year.