Town bus service a shadow of former self but costing more

350 sign petition to get back see old bus route reinstated

Angry bus passengers in Tavistock who say half the town has been cut off from key locations by changes to services have taken their fight to the county council.

A petition of 350 names calling for the former 89 bus service to be reinstated was presented to the authority at County Hall this week.

Cllr Debo Sellis ( Con, Tavistock) read out a statement from resident and former borough and town councillor Graham Parker  who said the service had reduced yet is costing more to taxpayers.

He said that for over a decade the 89 bus served Tavistock with a twice-hourly circular service, but last summer the route was split into two, with one serving the north and west of the town and the other the south and east.

Whilst the new 89 bus ran from early morning well into the evening serving the town centre, hospital, West Devon Borough Council offices and the edge of town supermarkets, the 86 route covering the south and east started two hours later, didn’t run in the afternoon and finished around 5pm, he said.

Its route didn’t include Tavistock Hospital or the borough council offices and other important locations.

He said this is “a pale shadow” of the former service which was a third of the cost of the new one.

A freedom of information request made by Mr Parker revealed that it was now costing Devon County Council £150,000 to provide the buses, £50,000 of which was from taxpayers and the rest from section 106 money which developers give the authority when they are awarded planning permission.

Campaigners have produced a specimen timetable to show how an hourly bus serving all part of Tavistock equally in  “a cost effective way” can work.

They are concerned that with a large proportion of the bus cost coming from the limited section 106 pot, it may not be sustainable for eight years as officers had promised.

Mr Parker said officers from West Devon Borough Council and Tavistock Town Council had agreed to meet with him to see if they could help.