IT consultant Ian Lauwerys has lived in Peldon for 18 years. The dad-of-two is resistance to First Essex's economic argument for withdrawing the 67A bus stop in Peldon because "it does not stack up". Here is his view...

Gazette:

AS a resident of Peldon with a teenager who is reliant on the 67A bus service to get to and from the Sixth Form College, I know first-hand the impact the recently announced withdrawal of the service will have on us in the village.

I have a few observations about the way First Essex has gone about this exercise, and to dispel some of the deeply misleading claims the company has made.

Firstly, the decision has been driven by the claim less than 1.5 per cent of the passengers it carries come from Peldon.

But many of the villagers, and even some of the drivers, have told First precisely zero per cent of the passengers it carries come from the alternative route the bus will now take via Mersea Road between Abberton and the island.

It is self-evident the percentage of passengers boarding and alighting at most stops outside the main part of West Mersea and urban Colchester will be in low single figures.

To then argue by extension that serving some stops is uneconomic, is fatuous.

As to the economic arguments, First has been less than forthcoming.

My calculations show the net saving of making First’s route change is 0.1 miles per bus in either direction.

The Department for Transport’s most recent 2016/17 statistics for bus operating costs in English non-metropolitan areas is £3.16 per mile.

Based on the current timetable, the net total saving for First is a princely ÂŁ46.77 per week.

The return adult fare from Peldon to Colchester is ÂŁ3.60, requiring our village to provide the equivalent of two and a quarter passengers per day (Monday to Saturday) in order for the service to break even.

It barely seems credible our village, despite relatively low overall passenger numbers, is not making an economic return for First.

Gazette:

Protests kick off after the announcement is made

Then when asked about the consultation period, a spokesman claimed: “All proposed service changes are registered with the Traffic Commissioners Office 56 days before the changes are implemented.”

Informing traffic commissioners does not constitute a consultation as they have limited statutory powers with regards to the timetabling and routing of commercially-operated bus services.

Their role is simply to record the routes and ensure the operator is properly licensed.

They can intervene if there are service problems but they cannot prevent an operator changing or withdrawing a commercial service.

Nor does this constitute consulting with bus users or their elected representatives on the parish, borough or county council.

Eventually I found the monthly proceedings issued by the Traffic Commissioners Office, which contains notice of the change.

These were published, or rather buried, deep on a government website on January 3, 12 days before the changes were formally announced to the public.

First’s claims of a 90-day or 56-day consultation are utter hogwash.

READ MORE: FIRST DEFENDS DECISION TO SCRAP BUS STOP

By way of comparison, some time ago First added a loop on Berechurch Hall Road between Monkwick Avenue and Lethe Grove.

None of the passengers I have spoken to have ever seen anyone board or alight at the stops on this loop, which is within five minutes walk of the other stops.

Eliminating this pointless loop would actually save ÂŁ587.76 per week and would require somewhere in the region of 30 to 40 return journeys between Lethe Grove and Colchester to be economic.

The passenger numbers are somewhere close to zero based on the, admittedly anecdotal evidence, of frequent users of the service. I therefore doubt First’s ability to undertake a realistic economic analysis, regardless of any concerns about the serious social detriment these changes will cause.

Our ward councillors are due to meet with the company and I sincerely hope some form of common sense will prevail.

But on current form, it seems unlikely.