I am somewhat dismayed at the Hertfordshire County Council proposal to reduce the bus service throughout the county in order to save around £700,000 to £887,000 a year.
According to the county council, it subsides the bus service at £3.8million a year in Hertfordshire and is looking at ways to save money.
In other words, what should it do with the buses? Should the council continue to fund the buses, cut the services, run no Sunday services or stop them running at 6.30pm?
It would seem three-quarters of the buses are operated commercially, and the county council has already reduced funding to support bus routes by around 30 per cent since 2011.
These proposals are due to take effect from April 2015 and a public consultation is taking place at present. You can complete the online survey on the website — www.hertsdirect.org/busconsult
The county council has also received letters from Hertfordshire MPs regarding cutting the buses, bus petitions and letters from the general public.
If this is a public consultation process, would it not be democratic to take it out on the road at various public buildings throughout Hertfordshire and let the people who use the services have their say? I would like to make a proposal.
The Mayor of London helps fund the bus services in London which, I must say, puts our bus service to shame — a red bus every 12 minutes.
There are enough mayors in Hertfordshire. Why don’t they give some of their money to subsidise the buses and keep the services we all need?
Even the county councillors have a locality budget to help with a worthy cause to their community. Perhaps they could also contribute.
This could then safeguard routes to hospitals, help the elderly who are dependent on the buses (they don’t all own cars, let alone can afford one on a pension), those with disabilities, low-income families and so on, thus not letting future generations down in order to save money on a vital service.
Diane Day
Address supplied
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