394 – Saved ! (but at a cost)
394 – Saved ! (but at a cost) :First of all a big thank you, especially to Mary, G52 and all of you who have got in touch, sent an email, signed the petition or worked to help our campaign to save the 394 in any way.
This afternoon, I heard from the Public Transport Unit at DCC, that our efforts had not gone unnoticed, and that following the tender process, a tender had been awarded to save the Monday to Friday journeys of the 394.
The tender has been awarded to the current operator High Peak Buses, and will mean that with effect from Monday 28th March, the service will change from its current hourly timetable to the two hourly timetable listed below :
However, to save the 394 there is a significant cost of over £60,000 per annum which will be paid by DCC / TFGM split on the basis of the distance covered in each area, along with the withdrawal of the Saturday 394 service, and a significant change to the 202 Glossop to Hyde service on a Sunday.
The Saturday service will run for the last time on Saturday 26th March 2016.
The changes to the 202 / 341 service will be detailed separately as the changes to evening / Sunday journeys is quite significant.
Paper copies of the new timetable for the 394 and details for the 202 / 341 (if received in time) will be available at Thursday’s G52 bellies not bins session on Gamesley, and from various other places (including me and the other Cllr Mckeown) shortly after that.
As always, please get in touch, if you require further information, have a comment or will be effected by these changes.
09/03/2016 @ 11:05 pm
Thank you for your efforts in respect of the 394, and for your e-mail this evening indicating that the campaign to retain the service has been successful, albeit in attenuated form! Shows that a combination of public pressure and lobbying by councillors can help to shape the outcome, even when local authority finances are as squeezed as they currently are.
Seems local politicians of every party have played some part in this success: the Marple Lib Dem councillors and William Wragg, the new Tory MP, at the Marple/Hazel Grove end, and yourself for Labour at the Gamesley/Glossop end of the route.
Though William’s Wragg’s lobbying on the subject raises the eyebrows a bit – if it wasn’t for his government’s relentless squeeze on local authority spending, loss-making but socially desirable rural bus services wouldn’t face the degree of threat that they do. If Derbyshire County Council does follow through with the proposal, presently out to consultation, to abandon all financial support for loss-making bus routes next year, we may well find the 394 under threat yet again.