I hear today that the Government transport gurus are asking people to get back to using buses following the decline in use due to Covid, writes David Joyce. 

The Dept. of Transport  on March 1 announced another funding stream of £150 million to help operators and local authorities safeguard services moving forward.(https://www.gov.uk/.../over-150-million-provided-to...)

I attach the latest set of Tweets from Stagecoach West for cancelled buses in the Stroud area for today 17/03/2022.

There are eight separate tweets.

Virtually all services are affected.

Last week I travelled in to Gloucester only to find that I had to return to Stonehouse via the railway as service after service appeared on the transport hub departure boards but the buses were nowhere to be seen.

I approached the staff at the transport hub but was told that it was the responsibility of Stagecoach West in Stroud to run the buses and to contact them if I had a complaint.

This chaotic system of public transport in Stroud needs to be sorted.

I fear that the money pouring into the transport system at the top is not trickling down to the commuters at the bottom.

Further cancellations and delays will drive more people away from the use of buses.

Leaving those that rely on buses to find that services are being cut further or when timetabled just not turning up.

The bus system operates on a profit motive not a public service model.

In Manchester the Mayor will be taking back control of the bus network to run buses as part of an integrated transport system, for people not profit.

Gloucestershire, a cash strapped authority, is not able to get Stagecoach to operate a profit service model successfully.

It is known that in rural areas people are more and more reliant on the private car to move around.

Which is not good for the Planet.

We are facing an air quality and climate emergency.