Concern over threatened bus service
Bus service 104 facing closure
Concerns have been raised about an essential bus service taking children, workers and the elderly to schools, businesses and shops being drastically cut back
The Newbury and District 104 runs from Newbury and through Thatcham before stopping at Brimpton, Tadley, Aldermaston, Theale, Calcot and Tilehurst.
The district council is proposing to reduce the daily, two-hourly service to one or two days a week, with no peak time service.
Julie Goode (Con, Thatcham South and Crookham) asked what the proposed cut actually meant, adding that children caught the bus to school and that a lot of people used it to get to work.
The district council’s member for education, Dominic Boeck (Con, Thatcham South and Crookham), who represents Aldermaston ward, said that he didn’t know.
If children were eligible for transport and there was no bus service available, that did not absolve West Berkshire Council from the duty of getting them to school, he said.
Mr Boeck added that other parishes had decided to contribute towards keeping their bus service going, including Basildon Parish Council, which was paying £10,000 towards the running of the 143 service.
Conceding that the 104 was not used as well as it could be, Mrs Goode said: “The bus is too big for the services it provides.
“We could have one that’s half the size to reduce the cost. It’s not even 25 per cent full, but we do need that service.”
Saying that she worried for the outlying areas of the district, the town mayor Sheila Ellison (Con, Thatcham North) sugg-ested that Mrs Goode galvanise people to comment in the consultation on the proposed cuts.
A lack of available information on how much money would be needed to keep the bus running led to councillors delaying judgement over the plans.
Rob Denton-Powell (Con, Thatcham South and Crookham) suggested that they see what they could do at another point and find out if other parishes wanted to contribute.
Town council leader Richard Crumly (Con, Thatcham Central) suggested writing to the council’s portfolio holder for transport to ask: “What are you doing to save this service”?