Public Transport

Because of the location of my village, just within the boarder of one county, Tyne & Wear, and bordering two others, County Durham and Northumberland, local services are rather fragmented. For example if I needed to attend Hospital, I could not attend the one that is geographically close, Shotley Bridge, less than three miles away, but I would have to travel into and through Gateshead and three times the distance. As simply I live in a different administrative area to where these services are located.

Yet Tyne & Wear is an administrative construct and was formed in the 1970s and traditionally the village of Chopwell was in County Durham. These changes are always made with good intentions, but often the reasons that justify them adjust and the reasons for the changes become void. Therefore the people who rely upon the services wish the changes had never been made.

Thus while the public meeting regarding the public transport and bus services in my area was being held in County Durham, and while it effects me directly and personally, I would have little or no influence upon the services and routes I have to rely upon.

A major aspect of the problems we face now stems from deregulation of the buses back in the 1980s. Back before that happened, in Tyne & Wear there was a very good integrated network with the, then new, Metro (Light Rail Transit System) as the main means of travel with the buses acting as feeders to this. But under Margaret Thatcher anything that was state owned or run was bad and everything that was private was good. So a great system was destroyed and the service ethos was destroyed and services became fragmented.

While it did create a very short period of eighteen months when fares appeared to fall and there were more buses on the road, this was an illusion as the large companies were having a price war with the small companies. Once the competition was eliminated the fares went up and services have been cut time after time.

Now the bus companies are only bothered about the routes that are most profitable. While it can not be expected that any company (public or private) could be expected to run loss making services, there really does not appear to be any understanding of the customers/passengers needs by the bus companies. Further while there are three major Bus companies, each has their own territory and do not even attempt to create the illusion of real competition. The company local to me is Go North East, and there is no choice or competition. While I am personally critical of the company, on the whole the staff that I come into regular contact with, the drivers, are polite, helpful and doing their best even with vehicles that breakdown on a far to regular basis.

Equally the drivers have a lot to put up with as they are the people who suffer the complaints when the fares go up and up ad infinitum. Also the drivers often have to face aspects of anti social behaviour that must take the pleasure away from doing a job well.

The need for good public transport in an age of a changing climate must not be forgotten either. As only if good services exist can and will people make the choice to leave the car behind. The problem is that the bus companies have forgotten that the work commuters are their life blood. For example while the local bus company has made reasonable provision for buses to and from the Metro Centre, a major shopping destination, there are few services to enable the staff to get to work there when their shifts start early or end late.

Therefore the need for good transport connections has an economic impact upon not just my village but the whole region. It is worth remarking that the villages where there is greatest deprivation are also the places that are least well served by public transport.

While the public meeting was reasonably well attended, the majority of the people there were elderly. With the major trend of the complaints being that investment has been made in infrastructure, by other partners, such as a new medical centre next to the Hospital at Shotley Bridge, but that connections and timings are so poor, by the bus company, that people needing to visit a GP (General Practitioner) or receive regular treatment have to spend several hours travelling to attend appointments. Equally, the buses far to often are routed just via the main roads, therefore the elderly and infirm are forced to carry shopping up steep hills. As County Durham is a county of steep hills, the way that services are planned is vital. As a poorly planned and routed service will just not get the passenger numbers that the bus companies want and say they need.

Far to often in the past to reduce costs, services have been reorganised. Perhaps trying to merge two services, but normally the new service just fails to provide what the passengers of the two previous services needed and they are forced to make alternative arrangements. Thus the bus company see a fall in passenger numbers. The problem is that far to often it will be accountants and bean counters who are deciding on routes and services rather than thinking strategically that a marginal service that serves a few small villages could also be delivering customers to other services.

One of the responses from the Managing Director of Go North East that would have been funny had it not been derisory, was to a question of why drivers don't always allow passengers to gain their seats. In the past this was more of a problem, as drivers were under so much pressure to keep to timetable that passengers became an inconvenience. Therefore we customers would get the bovine treatment and feel that we were being shuffled up the truck on route to the abattoir. But with increasing cases of successful litigation combined with greater disability awareness amongst the drivers, and instances like this is now rare, in my experience. However, when asked about this problem of drives not being allowed time to gain their seat, the MD of Go North East rapidly turned it around so that he was placing the blame firmly on the passengers. To me that shows the contempt that the company and the management hold its customers in.

Several people also commented that these public meetings are held every year, the same issues are raised, but nothing ever really changes. I suspect that this will be the pattern for years to come until the county councils have the power, as they used to have, of saying that these are the services that are needed and getting the bus companies to bid to provide them. Most of the services that are now provided are only on the most profitable routes, and the Bus companies have lost the understanding that by providing the services that people need, they will get the customers and revenue they need.