Service 90 Ipswich - Hadleigh - Mon - Sat evening and Sunday journeys
Service 796 Hadleigh to Manningtree Station Mon - Fri 2 journeys each way
Service 98 Ipswich - Shotley Gate Mon - Sat 1 journey each way
Service 202 Ipswich - Shotley No current timetable found
Services M33/M44 Bury Town Circulars Mon - Sat 1st journey of day and all Sunday journeys
Service 108 Lowestoft - James Paget Hospital Mon - Fri 3 journeys each way
Services 377/386 Rattlesden/Stowmarket - Bury Mon - Sat 4 journeys each way
Services 387/456 Stowupland/Eye - Stowmarket Mon - Sat 7 journeys each way overall
Service 62 Blaxhall - Wickham Market Weds only 1 journey each way
Service 71 Sudbourne - Woodbridge Mon - Sat 1 journey each way
Service 112 Hadleigh - Sudbury Tu/Thur One journey each way
Service 532 Laxfield - Beccles Weds only 2 journeys each way
Service 94A Hadleigh - Ipswich Mon - Sat 1 journey each way
Service 87 Stowmarket - Ipswich Sunday service
Service 120 Whatfield - Ipswich Thurs only one journey each way
Service 375 Alpheton - Bury Mon - Sat 1 - 3 journeys each way
Services 461/2 Whatfield - Stowmarket One journey each way various days
Service 482 Diss - Framlingham Mon - Fri 3 journeys each way
Now there's nothing huge, nothing major in all that, unless, and it's a big unless, you are one of the people affected. I've travelled on a few of those routes, and they are a social event. It can be the only time people in isolated communities see anyone else, and they arrange their lives around that one day a week the bus runs. When I, and indeed Roger French, one of the most respected chaps in the industry travelled on the 532 it was full. There is no alternative for those people, and yes they were nearly all elderly, using passes, but isn't that the point? To maintain vital links for those who have no alternative. If it hasn't happened already there will be deaths on the roads through people driving when they shouldn't be purely because they have no alternative.
I understand Community Transport schemes are not going to be allowed to bid for these routes, and pending new Laws affecting volunteer drivers are also going to muddy the waters. As I have previously reported, SCC have already penalised those without a timetabled bus service by withdrawing by stealth the use of bus passes on Connecting Community buses, because they can be pre-booked. That rule exists to protect coach services, not to squeeze a fiver out of 85yo's going to the doctor. It is utterly reprehensible what SCC have done to the most vulnerable and isolated in our communities. Those so called consultations they held to hear public views and ideas on the future of rural transport were a total charade. No definitive report on them, and no new initiatives announced, despite ideas flowing from the floor.
So next time you hear a politician say austerity is over, invite him/her to visit the communities about to be unceremoniously cut off, so the Council can save a few quid. It leaves a nasty tasdte in the mouth, or at least should do.
So it was even more mind boggling when this tweet appeared from the Go Ahead Group yesterday.
I'm sorry - run that past me again! "The only links for people who would otherwise be isolated". Really? It isn't April 1st again is ir? Just to remind everyone, this is a list of routes abandoned by Go Ahead in Suffolk and Norfolk over the last 6 years, and I bet I've forgotten a few. With pending cuts to the 84, leaving the folks of Denton and Alburgh without a bus service, its still ongoing. But those folks will be reassured that Go Ahead appreciate what a vital link they supply.
1, 2, 2A, 5, 7, 7A, 22, 37B, 52A, 53, 53A, 53B, 57, 60, 60A, 60B, 60C, 60H, 60S, 61, 61A, 62, 63, 68, 69, 71A, 72A, 80, 81, 82, 82A, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88, 88A, 88B, 89, 90, 92 95, 164, 165
I will, of course, report on any of the routes that manage to be saved, as I suspect some will by various means. I hope for the sake of those affected I have plenty to report.