Cllr Mark Smith has hit out at Stagecoach for cutting a Great Denham and Queen’s Park bus service despite receiving a subsidy from Bedford Borough Council.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Smith supported a petition from the Great Denham Residents’ Association calling on Stagecoach to reverse its decision from the 1st September to reduce its Number 8 service from 3 to 2 buses an hour.
The decision was taken despite the Council passing on to Stagecoach a financial contribution from a housing developer, known as a section 106 agreement, to assist in maintaining the service. Residents have also been angered at not being consulted on the change and have said the service is now often ‘standing room only’.
Cllr Smith welcomed the decision of the Executive Portfolio Holder to see if the section 106 agreement could be used differently to ensure the service is sufficient at peak times. He said:
‘It is shameful for Stagecoach to take the money to maintain the service and then do the complete opposite in reducing the frequency of the buses for Great Denham and Queens Park.
‘The strength of feeling shown by the petition shows that Stagecoach needs to consider reinstating the 3 buses an hour service which worked very well. Great Denham is a growing community and unless the buses are more frequent there will be a great strain on the service going forwards.’