Anger at "old bangers" on Plymouth park-and-ride route
PARK and ride operator First has been slammed for putting “old bangers” on a prestigious city commuter route.
Council bosses say they pleaded in vain with First to bring back state of the art buses bought partly with taxpayers’ cash in 2006 on the George park and ride service.
The original buses were transferred to First’s operations
elsewhere in the country and eventually replaced with models used at the
2012 London Olympics.
But, in the latest blow for park and ride customers, the
company has now transferred these buses to its Tavistock route and
replaced them with older models.
Since October 27 buses on the George park and ride service
have run every 12 minutes during the daytime compared to every 10
minutes.
Cllr Mark Coker, the city’s Cabinet member for transport,
said: “We are very dissatisfied with First lowering the quality of
vehicles and reducing the frequency of buses on the city’s park and ride
routes.”
“We are now arranging a meeting with the new managing
director of First Devon and Cornwall to express our extreme
disappointment and try to find a more acceptable way forward.”
Reader Frank Biscoe from Widewell, who drew The Herald’s
attention to the move, said: “If the council and the people of Plymouth
fail to make their voices heard, our state of the art, eco-friendly park
and ride facility will become just another run of the mill bus station
served by First Group’s less comfortable old bangers which have been to
the moon and back.”
Alex Carter, director for First Devon and Cornwall, said:
“As a commercial operator, we carefully review the supply and demand for
our services and try as best we can to allocate our vehicles where
there is greatest demand.
“The buses now operating on the PR1 George services, which we operate on a purely commercial basis with no public funding, are good quality double deck vehicles.
“Indeed they are of a comparable age and similar quality to the original fleet to which Mr Biscoe refers.”
The company spokeswoman said they were all 2006 or 2008 Alexander Dennis double deckers.
A council spokeswoman said some of the original 2006 buses
were paid for with Department for Transport grant funding and others
were paid for by First.
“The council had the choice of taking the grant-funded
buses back at the end of the contract in 2010 or allowing First to buy
them, which it did.”
The commercial operation has saved the council about £390,000 in subsidy costs over the past three years.
“We expected First to see the commercial benefits of
retaining the park and ride buses, with their distinctive branding, on
these routes,” a council spokeswoman said. “Unfortunately, First decided
to move them elsewhere in the country.
“It was only after the council intervened, by protesting to
First’s chief executive, that the company brought in the 2012
vehicles.”
These too have now been taken off the park and ride services and are competing with Citybus on the Tavistock route.
Cllr Coker said: “The council’s chief executive and I wrote
to Tim O’Toole, chief executive of First Group, asking for the changes
to be reversed but our request was rejected. In the meantime we are in
discussions with First about re-introducing a clear branding on park and
ride services.”
Report from the Plymouth Herald
