20 February 2023
The BaNES council budget meeting is this Tuesday (21st). As you may know, the council is cutting ALL subsidised rural buses.
Apart from the environmental aspect of forcing people into cars, these buses are a vital service for many in North East Somerset. They are often the only non-car transport option thanks to the poor train network (other than Keynsham our towns don't have stations). If these buses are stopped then people without cars may not be able to get to work, school, medical appointments, etc.
A significant number of people from NE Somerset also commute into Bath. Cutting the buses will result in an increase in the number of cars driving in to Bath every day, making the congestion and pollution problems in the city even worse.
It is vital that we save our buses, and you can have your say about our buses while BNES Council discusses cutting them on Tuesday. The council has only one transport job: running the essential buses that the private companies won’t. But they’ve chosen to invest your money on other things, so people in NE Somerset are forced to “take a hike”.
Come ready to be very loud at the Guildhall at 6pm. You could bring placards with pictures of buses and slogans like, “You had one job - keep rural council buses” and “BANES WANTS BUS USERS TO TAKE A HIKE” - or better! Bring as many people as you can.
Kevin Guy, leader of the council, has public money to spend on keeping subsidised buses going (like the 82). Instead he is spending all this money in keeping every single subsidised bus in Bath running. That’s not fair.
Metro Mayor Dan Norris is not allowed by the Government to spend any more money on buses that need subsidising, so we are reliant on the council.
This is their choice, and it's probably not a coincidence that most Lib Dem support is in Bath (which has avoided cuts) rather than NE Somerset. We’ve asked questions about how they made it. They’ve refused to answer. Please help them hear the residents.
Come along at 6pm Tuesday, Bath Guildhall.
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