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| Tim Farron MP and Fellow Campaigners |
Two bus services in south Cumbria, due to end on 16th November, have gained a partial reprieve.
Following the loss of associated school contract journeys to another operator, Stagecoach announced that both its service 530 (Kendal - Grange - Cartmel) and 552 (Kendal - Arnside) would be withdrawn at the end of October.
Following protests from local residents and parish councils, the local member of parliament, Tim Farron MP, intervened and gained agreement from the company to continue them for another three weeks to allow time to explore the possibility of replacement services.
Cumbria County Council has a dogmatic and short-sighted policy of refusing subsidy for public bus services that can't be run commercially and it was the Council that re-allocated the school contract in the full knowledge that doing so would lead to the end of the public services on the routes concerned. In the circumstances, finding a solution was not going to be easy, but an announcement by Tim Farron and a local bus company has confirmed a partial reprieve to take effect from next Monday, 18th November.
Carnforth-based bus and coach operator, The Travellers Choice, has agreed to provide a replacement service on a reduced basis, presumably without subsidy. The two routes are combined into one and the whole service reduced from five or six days a week to three. The existing services can be seen from the following map:
Service 530 runs from Cartmel (bottom left) via Cark, Flookburgh and Allithwaite to Grange-over-Sands then continues via Lindale, Witherslack and Levens Village to Kendal.
The 552 starts at Arnside and runs via Milnthorpe, Hincaster, Sedgewick and Natland to Kendal and is the only bus linking the villages concerned (except Milnthorpe) to the town.
The new 552 will also start at Arnside and follow the existing route to Milnthorpe, but instead of the current route via Hincaster it will then run due north via the 555 route (including, strangely, Heversham village) to Levens Bridge before diverting through Levens village, which will be the only part of the former 530 route to be served. The service will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the timetable can be seen by following this link: 552 Arnside - Kendal
Hincaster, Sedgewick and Natland are left without a bus service but residents of Cartmel, Flookburgh and Alithwaite can still reach Grange on Travellers Choice 531 and 532 services, from where connections to Kendal are available.The timetables, however, allow only a limited stay in the town. Grange itself, along with Lindale and Witherslack are linked to Kendal by the regular X6 (Barrow-Kendal) service.
Whilst the Bus Users' Group is pleased to see that some semblance of a service has been maintained on these routes its future will continue to be in doubt whilst Cumbria's "no subsidy" policy remains in force. The residents of the villages concerned - and the rest of Cumbria and North Lancs - will no doubt make up their own minds about politicians' promises regarding the future of buses over the next few weeks given their experience of what has actually happened to their services in recent years.
New Kendal Sunday Service
In the interest of balance, the BUG would like to point out that Cumbria County Council has recently issued a subsidy contract to Stagecoach to provide Sunday buses in Kendal. However, the funding for this is coming not from Council coffers but from a developer contribution as part of planning permission for a new supermarket on the outskirts of the town. Details via this link.
