Will your bus pass be safe with Devon County Council?

By EddieGrundy | Monday, February 14, 2011, 11:47

From 1st April (ominous date!) responsibility for concessionary bus passes moves from West Devon to Devon County Council - and they are already having doubts about the funding, as this missive from the Council shows...

This style of bus pass application will be out of date on 31st March

"Transport Minister Norman Baker has pledged to look into the funding shortfall Devon County Council is facing over the concessionary travel scheme.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, briefed the Minister on Friday (11 Feb) on the growing concern in Devon about the lack of funding for concessionary bus fares, public transport and highway maintenance.

It was agreed that Department for Transport officials would monitor the situation and would keep in touch with the County Council on the issue.

The Minister also invited the County Council to write to him with further evidence of the funding gap so that he could investigate further.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, said: “We had a detailed discussion with Norman Baker and it was good to receive some positive feedback from him. The Minister listened to what we had to say and it was encouraging to hear him say he would investigate our concerns about the impact that funding reductions are having on bus services in rural areas.”

Due to changes in the legislation, District Councils’ responsibility for the pass ends on the 31st March, with Devon County Council taking over direct responsibility for concessionary bus travel within its area from 1st April. Devon has been handed £7million of Government funding to operate the scheme, but it is expected to cost the authority around £12.35million to run."

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Comments

They still have to get voted into those positions. There would have been a vast majority of non privileged people who did that.

By pobox112 at 23:03 on 15/02/11
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Con Dem government, that's the rich guys we have running the country, never been short of a penny all their privileged lives, they say, we are all in the same boat , but fail to see, we are the ones in the water, hanging on with our fingertips, while their backsides are safe on the seats in the boat , like always.

By SvenCroft at 23:32 on 14/02/11
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