No 46 bus partially saved

Gloucestershire County Council has offered to partly reintroduce the number 46 evening bus service between Stroud and Cheltenham. The BBC phoned today about this news as I had been one of those to highlight this issue locally. I gave them a local residents number who had complained to me about the cuts - hopefully her pre-recorded interview will be on the morning news tomorrow.

The no 46 service, which travels from Nailsworth through Stroud and Painswick and onto Cheltenham will be reinstated on Friday and Saturday nights on a five-month trial basis. This service may be extended if passenger use improves significantly - but equally if demand does not increase we are told the service will stop.

This is seen as a victory of common sense by many, but I have to still doubt the wisdom of cutting the evening services - this will impact on the whole service - I would far rather see priorities of the Council shift to put emphasis on public transport - and where is the proper promotion of such services - as I said to the press (and in my blog on 27th March): "Our countryside is increasingly becoming a ghetto for the rich, completely inaccessible for those without cars. Good rural buses need to be an alternative for people with cars as well as a lifeline for those without."

See also blogs on this bus service on 31st March plus 2nd and 21st April - of course what we really need is public ownership of our buses - see here.