Wrexham Council has been accused of “keeping bus users in the dark”
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Here we go again a commercial company goes tits up and of course it’s the councils fault!
You expect criticism from the general public but when Clwyd South AM Ken Skates weighs in, it shows his complete lack of understand of the industry and the system, good job he’s not the WAG minster for transport!
Everybody knows a bus company must inform the Traffic Commissionaires and give 56 days’ notice to operate a bus service. That’s assuming the company is ready, willing and able to operate one.
If anything, the council should be praised for managing to put in place the services they have in the short time available, especially with Christmas & New Year in-between.
People seem to think that the council operate all bus services, but this is not the 1970’s after all, the majority of bus services are operated on a commercial basis for profit not as a ‘public service’ anymore. The shortfall of non-profitable, mainly rural, evening & Sundays services has to be provided with council funds which are dwindling as we speak.
To put this in a different context, when TJ Hughes closed in the town centre the council couldn’t step in and get another retailer to take over and continue and if people think they could then they are stupid.I’m not saying that the demise of D Jones & Son has not left people cut off or isolated but to blame the council is quite ridiculous, but one point I would agree with is the lack of info put out, although unless it’s the info the public want to hear, then they don’t listen!
Discuss……I feel sorry for the community’s that’s lost out they are the real losers, what miffs me off, and you can see it a mile off, certain political individuals such as Mr Skates our beloved AM passes the buck to the council, it’s not their fault the bus company collapsed. Instead of spending millions on the doomed race track down in South Wales spend some money up here for the buses, not the minuscule amount the assembly have given. If labour are the party of the people help with more funding put your money where your mouth is and help rather than pass the buck all the time.
Oh while I’m at it ask your colleague to sort out the mess of health service or are you going to pass the buck on this to the council.
When bus services used by many to get to work daily or people especially the elderly on a regular basis stop running for whatever reason it is obvious that problems will arise. The need to be kept informed is paramount and is something this Council needs to work on urgently. Agreed we should I think praise the council transport department for their quick response to the demise of D Jones and Son just before Xmas but that’s their job and they are paid well for it. They do need to sort the financially unviable services out as they have a duty under the Transport act in Wales to secure the provision of public transport to meet any public transport requirements which would not otherwise be met.
Nothing is easy, but it seems to take an age to sort even the simplest of things this day and age with people easily vexed over the smallest of problems. We are in dire need of extra funds from the Welsh government to provide Sunday and later bus services all around the local area and our AM’s should be doing their job in securing these funds as they are paid more than well for that.Why do we not have a Municipal Bus Company- if ARIVA can make money running transport why cant Wrexham Council do the same like a number of other Local Authorities and Cities.
Profits put back into Public Services instead of cuts. Why has this not been put forward by all our professional number crunchers and Members in the Council?
Council watcher it’s a good idea but why the council all the time, something happens oh it’s down to the council, seeing all those cuts coming it looks like all local authorities are struggling. This is far bigger, our assembly members who are on a massive allowance should be fighting the corner not giving a minuscule amount to pacify.the reason I say this is that no operator is going to run a non profitable service,or I would imagine the council, therefore it needs to be subsided, to achieve this more money from the assembly is needed.
[quote quote=143190]Why do we not have a Municipal Bus Company- if ARIVA can make money running transport why cant Wrexham Council do the same like a number of other Local Authorities and Cities.
Profits put back into Public Services instead of cuts. Why has this not been put forward by all our professional number crunchers and Members in the Council?[/quote]
Jackpot. This is what needs to happen. The council need to hire a transport chief exec and set it all up. Run a high quality service around the county and link to other key locations. Monies get reinvested back into Wrexham.
Even the commencement of the discussion over a Municipal or Not For Profit (surplus can be generated but they would go back into the community) bus company would bring ARIVA to start looking at potential improvements. As they operate mainly in a non-competitive environment they will focus on profit generation and not service quality. Put some opposition on the road and see the change!
Profits put back into Public Services instead of cuts. Why has this not been put forward by all our professional number crunchers and Members in the Council?
Jackpot. This is what needs to happen. The council need to hire a transport chief exec and set it all up. Run a high quality service around the county and link to other key locations. Monies get reinvested back into Wrexham.[/quote]
JACKPOT! CRACKPOT more like. Sounds a great idea, just come up with £100 grand for a suitable DDA compliant bus – that’s just for one bus by the way. And even if you bend the Traffic Commissionaires rules regarding running a subsidised service on a commercial route, many well established bus companies have tried to take on ARRIVA/CROSVILLE over the years ie, the infamous no.1 route battle between Crosville & Wrights springs to mind, so to suggest the council suddenly rise up and take on the world is a quite a ludicrous idea! Going back to my original thread analogy, – Why do you think Abbie Lowe’s and all the other local shops for local people have gone to the wall and Tesco are thriving?
Get real people!
[quote quote=143232]JACKPOT! CRACKPOT more like. Sounds a great idea, just come up with £100 grand for a suitable DDA compliant bus – that’s just for one bus by the way. And even if you bend the Traffic Commissionaires rules regarding running a subsidised service on a commercial route, many well established bus companies have tried to take on ARRIVA/CROSVILLE over the years ie, the infamous no.1 route battle between Crosville & Wrights springs to mind, so to suggest the council suddenly rise up and take on the world is a quite a ludicrous idea! Going back to my original thread analogy, – Why do you think Abbie Lowe’s and all the other local shops for local people have gone to the wall and Tesco are thriving?
Get real people![/quote]
Whenever people say we can’t do something in Wrexham that is being done successfully up and down the UK, I think that always is more of a reflection of the piss poor can’t do attitude of our council leadership & naysayers across the community. Cardiff and Newport both have municipal bus services. Also, in the North West so do Warrington and Halton. We are fully aware that current transport rules do not even permit new municipal bus services to be set-up, but the Welsh government is set to change that after central Gov rule changes have come in.
It’s quite simply unacceptable to just idle and do nothing as private bus firm after private bus firm folds and reduces overall service provision and competition across the county. Plus, people might think Arriva are too big to fail, but you only need to see what’s happened to Carillion recently to see that large corporate multinationals can hit breaking point just like that. Arriva Trains are pulling out of rail franchises in Wales, so you have to question the whole Arriva’s long term commitment to transport in Wales. If they made a withdrawal from the busses in the area, there’s no guarantees another private operator would step in. So in either scenario (no matter how unlikely) we’d be left with almost 0 bus provision.
I’m glad you brought Tesco up because things don’t always stay the same forever. The once previously untouchable is now struggling to compete against the budget supermarkets of Aldi and Lidl. Yes, Tesco is taking steps to adapt, but it goes to show that we shouldn’t have to accept the status quo and it’s at least a space that has healthy competition for consumers, whereas bus service provision currently does not.
[quote quote=143233]
JACKPOT! CRACKPOT more like. Sounds a great idea, just come up with £100 grand for a suitable DDA compliant bus – that’s just for one bus by the way. And even if you bend the Traffic Commissionaires rules regarding running a subsidised service on a commercial route, many well established bus companies have tried to take on ARRIVA/CROSVILLE over the years ie, the infamous no.1 route battle between Crosville & Wrights springs to mind, so to suggest the council suddenly rise up and take on the world is a quite a ludicrous idea! Going back to my original thread analogy, – Why do you think Abbie Lowe’s and all the other local shops for local people have gone to the wall and Tesco are thriving?
Get real people!
Whenever people say we can’t do something in Wrexham that is being done successfully up and down the UK, I think that always is more of a reflection of the piss poor can’t do attitude of our council leadership & naysayers across the community. Cardiff and Newport both have municipal bus services. Also, in the North West so do Warrington and Halton. We are fully aware that current transport rules do not even permit new municipal bus services to be set-up, but the Welsh government is set to change that after central Gov rule changes have come in.
It’s quite simply unacceptable to just idle and do nothing as private bus firm after private bus firm folds and reduces overall service provision and competition across the county. Plus, people might think Arriva are too big to fail, but you only need to see what’s happened to Carillion recently to see that large corporate multinationals can hit breaking point just like that. Arriva Trains are pulling out of rail franchises in Wales, so you have to question the whole Arriva’s long term commitment to transport in Wales. If they made a withdrawal from the busses in the area, there’s no guarantees another private operator would step in. So in either scenario (no matter how unlikely) we’d be left with almost 0 bus provision.
I’m glad you brought Tesco up because things don’t always stay the same forever. The once previously untouchable is now struggling to compete against the budget supermarkets of Aldi and Lidl. Yes, Tesco is taking steps to adapt, but it goes to show that we shouldn’t have to accept the status quo and it’s at least a space that has healthy competition for consumers, whereas bus service provision currently does not.[/quote]
Your posts are top quality. You should run for local office.
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