Sign the bus cuts petition!

A petition has been initiated for people to register their opposition to the County Council’s bus cuts plans.

The petition, called ‘Stopping the cuts to bus services in Cambridgeshire’ reads:

‘We the people of Cambridgeshire are opposed to the Conservative County Council’s decision to scrap 100% of funding for subsidised buses, which led to an application for Judicial Review.

‘Socially necessary bus services are vital to the whole of Cambridgeshire, especially for young people who need to access to centres of employment, those with mobility issues who wish to access the wider community and its resources, and for tackling the root problem of ‘rural isolation’.

‘We also believe that the ‘Cambridgeshire Future Transport’ project, to which half of bus funding has been transferred, is fundamentally flawed and not capable of delivering an adequate replacement for the existing public transport network, never mind the improved system that has been promised.

‘We call on the Conservative administration to reinstate 100% of the cuts to bus funding and to conduct a systematic view of Cambridgeshire residents’ transport needs before making any changes to it.’

Click here to go to the petition.

There are 2 services in Cottenham, Histon and Impington under threat.

One is the weekly 110 Freedom Bus service from Histon and Impington via Cottenham to Ely market. This is well patronised and is an important part of the lives of those that use it. A staggering 50% of its users responded to the recent consultation.

The other is the regular (3 times a day) 106 service from Rampton via Cottenham to Ely. This is a ‘working’ bus. It doesn’t just take people to Ely but it also provides a connecting service to Cambridge. There is talk of a Cambridgeshire Future Transport pilot in Wilburton. If this goes ahead and results in the 106 service being withdrawn the Council could again find itself on the wrong end of a judicial review for ignoring the impact of its actions on local communities!

David says: ‘Lib Dems have not opposed cuts in bus subsidies per se. They acknowledge that some are a waste of money. However they are against their arbitrary withdrawal without prior consideration of alternatives. In our alternate budget last year we would not have cut the expenditure but would have conducted a comprehensive review to ensure that the money was well spent’.