Bus campaigners from across the East Midlands took the biscuit – literally – with the next step in their drive to have services in the region brought under public control.
Members of Better Buses East Midlands presented regional mayor Claire Ward with a box of bus-shaped biscuits to highlight their plea. (see photo)
Carrying banners, they gathered outside Gedling Borough Council offices today, Tuesday, March 4, before a meeting of the mayor’s transport and digital connectivity committee.
Nearly 900 people have already signed the group’s petition calling for public control of the region’s buses since it was launched a month ago.
Members of Better Buses East Midlands, as well as the Friends of the Earth EMCA climate coalition, submitted a number of bus and transport related public questions which were answered at the meeting.
The Mayor said at the meeting that franchising was not off the table indefinitely and that “if for any reason the Enhanced Partnership does not deliver what is needed then franchising remains an option.”
Lisa Hopkinson of Better Buses East Midlands said:
“We would like Mayor Claire to do an assessment of all the options for improving buses in parallel rather than waiting another two or three years for the outcome of an Enhanced Partnership. Bus franchising has been shown to be the better option in all other combined authorities where an assessment has been done.
“Public transport is a public service, heavily subsidised by the public purse, which many people depend on. Therefore public bodies are in the best position to decide bus routes, timetables and fares that are in the wider public interest rather than leaving it to profit-maximising bus companies.“
