Bus users made to wait for forum promised by Council

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 29th Jul 2005

Council fail to setup promised public forum on poor bus services in Sheffield

Liberal Democrats on Sheffield City Council have criticised the Labour controlled Council for not setting up a bus group that was promised at the end of a Council led 'Bus Commission' in January this year. Lib Dems believe the lack of action shows how the Council is not taking the issue of poor bus services seriously enough.

The 'Bus Commission' was started by Labour at the beginning of the year, it was championed by the Labour Council leader Cllr Jan Wilson as a way to influence FirstBus policy, the main bus provider in Sheffield. Despite the Bus Commission's findings that the overwhelming majority of bus users found the service to be under resourced and over priced, FirstBus responded in the next few months by increasing fares and cutting services.

On the back of the findings, the Council committed to setting up a bus user group so that there would be a forum for unhappy bus users to air their views. Despite this promise there is still no bus user group. A Liberal democrat written question to Council this week revealed that there would be a meeting in September to discuss the setting up of the bus users group.

Lib Dems believe that the nine month wait for just a discussion on the setting up of the group is unacceptable, they have criticised Labour for a lack of action on the issue. They believe that the Labour controlled Council have not done enough to get tough with bus operators and stand up to fare increases and service cuts on behalf of the people of Sheffield.

Cllr Martin Brelsford, Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet member for Transport and Environment, said: -

"It is simply unacceptable that bus users have to wait nine months for the promised bus user group to even be discussed by this Labour controlled Council. Although many bus users are used to waiting a long time for things at the moment, it's normally for the buses, it shouldn't be for action from the Council"

"The lack of action further makes a mockery of the Bus Commission championed by the leader of the Council, who hailed it as a way to help improve bus services in Sheffield. Its findings were published in January of this year, yet since then FirstBus have increased fares and cut services"

"The bus users group promised by the Council is needed to allow unhappy bus users to air their views. I urge that the group is setup at the earliest possible opportunity. This failure is another in the long line of Council failures that has lead to the unacceptable situation we now face in Sheffield regarding our bus service, Labour need to start taking the issue seriously"