The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The bus operator under fire from passengers for reducing services and altering the route of others has blamed “continual congestion” in Spalding and lack of income.
Brylaine Travel says it has had to axe some early buses from the Into Town service around Spalding to make it commercially viable because it is not subsidised.
And the firm denied claims that some buses have been run with too many people on board.
The response comes just a week after criticism from passengers over its service between Spalding and Boston. A stop at the Johnson Community Hospital and a loop around Enterprise Way and Wardentree Lane in Pinchbeck were both pulled due to “timing issues”.
Brylaine has hit back, saying passengers taking “an ill-informed stance” and being “consistently derogatory” to its staff was detrimental to the firm’s efforts to provide sustainable rural services.
A statement by the firm said: “The reality is The UK Traffic Commissioner demands that as an operator we provide a workable timetable, it is for this reason the Spalding Town service times have been changed.
“Primarily the issues were due to continual congestions, peak period flow traffic, other intermittent traffic issues, not least the train barriers, which all together created continual delays to the service meaning it had to be altered.”
The knock-on effect of running an inefficient service was another factor, the Boston independent firm claimed.
“Passengers and public alike should know that the amount of resources given to bus services is being continually reduced – particularly financial resources for rural services and for those of us who serve rural communities,” the statement said. “It should also be noted that the amount received nationwide for reimbursement to bus companies for concessionary passenger travel is continually being reduced, in some areas it is currently less than 50 per cent of the payable fare charged.
“We must all be realistic and passengers should recognise that this current backlash is perpetuated by a number of senior citizen all wishing to travel ‘seated’ on the first few services, with trolleys!
“The reality is they can travel seated as there is an entire day available consisting of up to 12 journey times into Spalding from any given point along the route, with three between 0900 and 0945.
“What should also be noted is that after checking the data for the past month, we have concluded that at no point has any Spalding Town service vehicle operated overloaded.”
Brylaine closed its response with a warning over the combined pressures of possible cuts and legislation.
It said: “Many are voicing great concerns about the possibility of Beeching-style cuts through the UK bus industry in the next few years, the impact of which would be felt at its greatest in rural communities like ours.
“Therefore, we should all be working together, passengers and operators alike.”
