On Friday 27 September, in response to the numerous contacts from local residents about the imminent withdrawal of the Yellow Bus services 27 and 4d, I was allowed to address the members of Poole Council’s “Route and Branch Member Working Group” which considers bus routes and subsidies across Poole. My full submission is shown below:

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To Members of the Route and Branch Member Working Group:
Cllr Ian Potter, Cllr Tony Trent, Cllr Jo Clements, Cllr Les Burden

Re: Agenda Item 5 – YELLOW BUS SERVICES CHANGES WITH EFFECT FROM 3 NOVEMBER 2013

I am writing regarding the report you are due to note at your meeting on Friday morning.

As you will note from the report, Yellow Buses have submitted registration changes for a number of commercially operated services within Bournemouth and Poole to take effect from 3 November 2013.

In particular they have announced the withdrawal of the 27 service and 4d service. The 27 runs between Poole, Alderney, Bearwood, Kinson, Northbourne to Castlepoint, running hourly in the daytime from Monday to Saturday. The 4d service runs between Bournemouth, Winton, Northbourne, Kinson, Bearwood, Merley to Wimborne, running hourly in the daytime Monday to Saturday, and it will be re-routed from Northbourne via Parley and Ferndown to Wimborne, missing out Kinson, Bearwood and Merley.

As the report attached as Appendix A states: “There are some serious implications for parts of the Borough of Poole” from the withdrawal of these services.

The withdrawal of the 4d and 27 services serving Bearwood and Merley have not been publicised by Yellow Buses, but have had some limited coverage in a local newsletter and by word of mouth. Many people are still unaware of this impending change, but in spite of this in the past 7 days I have already received 45 contacts from local residents by email, phone and on facebook, who will be affected by this announcement, and i am getting more complaints every day as more residents learn of this. The local MP’s office has similarly been swamped with complaints from concerned residents. I have to say that the volume of correspondence I have recieved on this issue is unprecedented in my 6 years as a Councillor.

There are some commonalities among the concerns raised as well as some very concerning impacts on peoples ability to access school, college and their workplaces after these services are withdrawn. Common concerns are:

4d

Children travelling to Allenbourn Middle School and QE school in Wimborne from Merley, but also in many cases from Bearwood and further afield.
Young People travelling to Bournemouth and Poole College at Lansdowne from Merley.
Numerous cases of problems for people travelling to work in or near Wimborne, including staff at Canford School on Magna Road, or people travelling to work from the Wimborne or Merley area.

27

Numerous cases of Young People travelling to Bournemouth and Poole College at North Road from North Bournemouth and Bearwood.
I have been contacted by 3 separate staff members at Poole Hospital who will not be able to get to or from the hospital for their shifts.
Numerous cases of Poole Hospital patients who will have difficulty accessing their appointments.
Numerous cases of people accessing work in Poole.

I have detailed three of the most severe impacts I have had raised to indicate how concerned we should be about this.

1. “Further to the recent notification of the cessation of the 4D service in the Bearwood Roundup. I would like to inform you that it is impossible to put in words the implications it will cause me personally. As a registered disabled person I have relied on public transport throughout my life (to get to work, shopping etc) as I have a disability that prevents me from driving or applying for a vehicle licence. As a middle-aged lady that has suffered epilepsy all her life, over recent years I have found it increasingly hard to find employment. Therefore, instead of relying on state benefit, I started my own small business in Wimborne, and relied on the 4D to get me into Wimborne. If cessation I would have to go into Poole and then out to Wimborne. This with the cessation also of the 27 services would make it extremely difficult having to rely on the Wilts & Dorset 11 service and, on Saturday one of my busiest days with no 27 or 11 service operating my only means to get to Wimborne would be on foot. I also notice that Wilts & Dorset and Yellow Buses are starting a service through Stapehill and Wimborne Road West. And once again Bearwood and Bearcross are left out of the public transport system, being promoted by all political parties.
Regards X”

2. “Hello, my name is XX I live at XX King John Avenue. We just received the Bearwood newsletter through the post and I would like to have my say on the 4d bus service stopping. Firstly I would like to say I currently work in bournemouth and get the 4d most mornings to work and some evenings back but I have recently been offered a job in Wimborne which would allow me to move out of my cramped home with my parents. I will have to turn this down if that service stops. I live at home with my 2 siblings and my eldests girlfriend which means theres 6 adults in a small 4 bed house (I am the youngest at 23) Ive been looking for this opportunity for a long time and just as it arises I hear the service that will allow me to get a better career and wage is stopping. Please feel free to pass my details onto yellow buses. I would also like to say that every morning and evening I am on the bus it is packed. I am very upset to hear of this.”

3. Cases of parents in Bearwood with children at Allenbourn Middle School or QE, with siblings for whom they are currently making choices for new schools from September 2014. They have to make their school choices by the end of October 2013 and had planned for them to join their siblings, but after hearing of the withdrawal of the 4d they are having to urgently review their school choices in the next few weeks as they may not be able to get to school.

As a footnote, in a couple of cases when passengers have raised their concerns with the Yellow Bus drivers, i have had reported to me that the bus drivers have told passengers it is because of the Council subsidy that the service is stopping, which is not reflecting well on us as a local authority and I have had several people ask me why I am stopping these services, until I have a chance to explain the correct position.

I have been in contact with officers and i know that actions are being taken to step in where financially possible, particularly regarding school services. Having looked in some detail at these changes and their implications myself, while I can accept that Poole Council is not in a position to “throw money at the problem”, I strongly believe that there could be opportunities to work with Yellow Buses and other operators to adjust their plans or adjust other services (such as the Wilts & Dorset/Damory no.11 from Bearwood to Poole) to address some of the problems which have been raised and reduce the severity of the impact of these changes, without necessarily costing additional subsidy or being uneconomic for the operators. I am surprised by the number of people telling me how busy some of these services are when they use them.

I would therefore be grateful if you would consider amending the decision required in your report, to add a recommendation that Transportation Services officers urgently liaise with Yellow Buses, other operators, Bournemouth Council, Dorset County Council, schools and Poole Borough ward councillors for the affected areas to look for amended or replacement services which would enable children and young people to continue to access education, and adults to be able to continue to access their workplaces using public transport. And then to report back to a future meeting of this group.

Many thanks for your time in considering this request on behalf of the residents of Bearwood and Merley.

Cllr David Brown.
Merley and Bearwood Ward

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