Threat to rural bus route (From Gazette Series)

Threat to rural bus route

AN IMPORTANT rural bus route could be lost because the operator has announced he is withdrawing his services.

Coach operator Colin Hoskins has told Cam Parish Council that he is winding the business down and will therefore stop operating the Little Green Bus service from July 1.

The service was set up in 2001 as a joint initiative between the parishes of Cam, Coaley and Slimbridge and has latterly been financed by Gloucestershire County Council.

The regular Little Green Bus route runs around the parishes to bring people who do not drive to shop and socialise in Cam.

At their meeting last Wednesday, members of Cam Parish Council discussed what alternatives could be found to keep the service going, although the short notice means there is almost certain to be at least a short break.

Cllr Miranda Clifton said: "I think it would be a good idea to ask some of the users of the bus service what they thought."

She suggested that the Village Link services, which operate over a wider area including Berkeley and Dursley, might be a ready-made replacement.

"If Village Link does the job, it would be silly to replicate it," she added. Cllr Keith Pearce said he thought it odd that the council did not already know what passengers thought of the service.

"It is disappointing that we do not know how well the service is used," he said.

Councillors were told that an additional problem with Village Link was that it did not run regular routes, meaning that some journeys from outlying parishes into Cam or Dursley took a disproportionate amount of time.

Cllr Bert Elliott said the service was something of a lifeline to many elderly residents in the area and should be saved.

"I do not want to see the removal of the Little Green Bus," he said.

Cam parish clerk Sue Hanman explained that the council would now look into whether the service needed to be retained, if Village Link could accommodate the route and what funding was available.