The Echo did quite a good report just before new year on the reduction in the bus service to parts of Hockley and Hawkwell:
ROCHFORD district councillors have expressed their disappointment at bus service cuts by Arriva. The bus company has announced reductions on the no. 7 and no. 8 services from Rochford to Southend, leaving parts of Hockley and Hawkwell with just one bus an hour.
Keith Hudson, councillor responsible for planning and transportation, said: ?It?s very sad indeed. How can we encourage people to use the buses if they are not regularly available? ?Rochford District Council will encourage Arriva to reconsider its decision, but at the end of the day it is a private commercial enterprise and we don?t have jurisdiction over them.?
John Mason, Hawkwell Residents? Association councillor for Hawkwell West, said: ?I would like this referred to members at Rochford District Council for debate following an officer investigation on how this reduction could be reversed for the benefit of residents of my ward and wider still in the Hockley area in general.?Brian Guyett, chairman of Hockley Residents Associa-tion, led the opposition to the cuts and is urging all councillors to back their cause and ask Arriva to reconsider. He said: ?Arriva is being very inflexible and we do feel there is scope for an imaginative solution. ?I do hope Rochford district and Essex County Councils will want to be seen to support their residents.? Arriva said it will monitor services closely and urged customers to contact its customer services team on 0844 800 4411.
According to the agenda for Tuesday night’s Central area committee meeting, Arriva have replied as follows:
The current pattern of 6 buses per hour between Southend and Golden Cross and 2 buses per hour between Hockley and Rayleigh will remain; the reduction in service is between Golden Cross and Hockley on route 8 (2 buses per hour reduced to 1) and between Ashingdon Schools and Hockley on service 7 (4 buses per hour reduced to 1). However, we intend to match the current important peak journeys as far as possible.
We don?t generally consult with local residents directly, preferring instead to consult with them via the local authority as we did with both Rochford District and Essex County Council earlier this year. Neither Rochford DC nor Essex CC lodged objections to the reduction in buses along Greensward Lane at that time.
Our position remains that the current level of service through Hawkwell on service 8 and between Ashingdon Schools and Hockley on route 7 is not sustainable and that the revisions which we have proposed will better match supply and demand.
Is that true? Neither Rochford DC nor Essex CC lodged objections to the reduction in buses along Greensward Lane at that time????
That is also my understanding, despite comments to the contrary by an RDC officer at a CAC. This makes a complete nonsense of RDC’s public transport policy in the core strategy.
The HRA continues to press Arriva, RDC & ECC to find a solution – about 20,000 people will only have access to one bus an hour during the day. Getting back frm the hospital will be a particular problem and Hawkwell will have no buses at all after early evening. Trade in rayleigh could also suffer. And all because of a 1.5 mile ‘gap’ which Arriva refuse to close.
It also appears an attack by Arriva on the Government concessionary bus passes, as they are not cutting less used services earlier in the morning.
It would be nice if our councils actually tried to support its residents for once.
As soon as we heard of the changes proposed we contacted Bonnie Hart and Arriva, subsequently Mark Francois. We cannot believe the scale of cutbacks! What other town the size of Hockley will have such a poor public transport system?
And we cannot believe that no consultation was considered necessary OR that our local council had no comments to make.Surely the local council have a responsibilty to its council tax payers and indeed local pensioners. Whats the benefit of concessionary bus passes without buses.
Also in our experience of using the buses there are always people waiting. What about the service to the hospital?
Today’s front page story in the Telegraph is about councils struggling to pay for bus passes and cutting [council] services?
Our local issue with Arriva is the exact opposite of that – Arriva cutting [bus] services as not allowed to make a profit on bus passes.
But perhaps the Telegraph story explains why RDC did not object to the cuts despite this being against their proposed transport policy. This further undermines the credibility of the Core Strategy and its sustainability.