Wednesday 27 June 2012

bus changes in Cranfield, Milton Keynes and North Crawley



Interesting meeting last night with  NCrawley parish councillors, transport officers from MK and CBC, the  local MK cllr  and Delise Ball, myself and Alan Morris from Cranfield Parish Council
The main headlines are

  • Paul Dodge (CBC transport officer) says Grant Palmer announced out of the blue they wd run a commercial service while CBC was in discussion to put out a tender for a supported service to MK. GP originally planned a service that wd only run every 70 to 75 minutes but agreed to an hourly service. Later buses only run with CBC support. 
  • Andrew Coleman (MK transport officer) said the borough cannot support services running outside its area and CBC was not willing/able to share costs. So the Arriva MK services stopped and the connection  between NC and Cranfield. 
  • The university is still considering replacing its home grown shuttle service with a subsidy to a public service that would meet its students' needs and offer general public use. It is the only player with regards to resources.
  • Cranfield Pcllrs asked for assurances that we would be consulted in any spec the university drew up regarding a new service. 
  • All public representatives protested at not being alerted to the changes in advance.
  • There is discouraging news that many transport operators are not actually interested in running subsidised evening services and quote silly prices. 
  • There was also a hint that in some areas (no names mentioned) developers are challenging S106 housing agreements that make provision for public transport. Something we need to keep an eye on.

No comments: