Have your say on planned Peterborough bus cuts

The proposal to reduce Peterborough City Council’s spend on subsidised bus services by £150,000 was approved by Full Council on December 12 2018 as part of the phase two budget setting process.

Subsidised services are those which the council contributes towards to make them viable.

The plans would see a number of services reduced.

The services are:

Service 61 (which runs from the Queensgate Bus Station to Sainsbury’s in Oxney Road) - the 5.34am and all services after 6.39pm would be cut.

Service 62 (which runs from Queensgate Bus Station to Maxey via Werrington, Gunthorpe, Glinton and Newborough) - the 5.09am and the last two evening services, the 7.55pm and 11.15pm would be cut.

Services 60( Queensgate Bus Station to the Ortons) and 63 (Parnwell to Queensgate) will remain unchanged.

Residents who would like to find out more about the proposals are invited to attend the consultation drop-in event at Peterborough Town Hall on Thursday (January 24) between 12.30pm and 2.30pm or between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. Officers will be on hand to explain the proposals, answer questions and help residents who use the services to find alternative routes.

Councillor Peter Hiller, cabinet member for growth, planning, housing and economic development, said: “The routes that are proposed for removal are some of those that are the least used and therefore require significant subsidy.

“We know that some of the routes regularly run with empty buses and naturally these are the services we are proposing to remove.

“We know there will be people affected if these routes cease, but at a time when our finances are so constrained and we are having to look carefully at every penny we spend we cannot continue to use taxpayers’ money to subsidise these routes.

“If you are affected by these proposals please attend the drop-in event. Our officers have already spoken to some of the people who will be affected by the proposals and signposted them to other bus services which allow them to make the journey that they need.

“We anticipate these proposals will allow the majority of the required savings to be agreed (as identified in Trache Two). Officers are confident the shortfall will be achieved without impacting members of the public.”

In 2019/20 the council will still spend £565,000 subsidising passenger transport services.

People who cannot attend the drop-in events can make comments by emailing [email protected]

The proposals will be heard by the city council’s cabinet on Monday 4 February 2019 at the Town Hall at 10am. Members of the public are invited to attend the meeting.