First success for Sunday bus campaign (Cambridge Liberal Democrats)

Cambridge Liberal Democrats <camlibdems@gmail.com>

First success for Sunday bus campaign

December 6, 2006 9:00 AM

Newly elected Lib Dem City Councillor for Trumpington, Andrew Blackhurst, is today celebrating the success of his campaign for a better Sunday bus service.

Together with the City Council, Coun Blackhurst has been pushing for the Trumpington Park and Ride to continue on a Sunday.

Coun Blackhurst commented:

Councillor Andrew Blackhurst

"Good public transport links are crucially important and so I'm very pleased that the Park and Ride will now run on Sundays.

"Trumpington residents have been demanding more and better buses on a Sunday. At the moment there are few public transport alternatives through the village and so I have been campaigning for the Park and Ride to continue to run on Sundays and, even more importantly, to make stops in the village.

"But the campaign isn't over yet. Stagecoach is trying to back away from allowing the buses to stop and serve local people at the village stops during off-peak hours which must include Sundays. Their objection that stopping in the village will slow the bus down simply

does not apply on Sundays. The bus will rarely need to stop at the existing stops towards the City Centre on a Sunday as they are most often used during peak times for people traveling to work. We will continue to press Stagecoach to provide a better service for Trumpington residents."

Councillor Sian Reid, Executive City Councillor for Planning and Transport, added:

"I'm pleased that we are able to help subsidise the Sunday service after Christmas. This 3 month 'kickstart' funding should allow the buscompany to set up a good reliable service, which will hopefully lead to a longer term service.

"I, alongside the Trumpington Councillors, will continue to pressureStagecoach to allow additional stopping points in Trumpington village as part of the new Sunday services."

In the busy pre-Christmas period Stagecoach, who run the Park and Ride services, will open all of the Cambridge Park and Ride sites on Sundays to cater for Christmas shoppers. Cambridge City Council will then be providing 'kickstart' funding for the Trumpington service to continue from January through March. Hopefully the service will by then have proved itself to be popular and will be retained by Stagecoach.