Passengers left stranded as axe falls on coach routes

NATIONAL EXPRESS is to cut many of its cross-country coach services, dealing a fresh blow to the Government's attempts to lure people away from their cars and on to public transport.

The cutbacks, dubbed a "Beeching on the buses", mean that thousands of passengers will be left without an alternative means of transport, because the doomed services also serve as bus routes for local people.

Transport campaigners say the decision proves that the Government's policy of integrating all public travel services is flawed because there is no "Ofbus" regulator to monitor the level of service provided by bus and coach companies.

The changes by National Express to its new timetable coincide with the launch this week of a White Paper outlining a series of measures to improve the quality and availability of bus services. However, the document does not incorporate coach companies, which are excluded from the Government's pounds 41m rural bus grant allocation.

At least five services have been cut completely from the new winter timetable, including routes between Paignton and Cambridge and from Penzance to London. Another half-a- dozen routes have been reduced to just one coach service per day in some cases. Several towns, such as Weston-super- Mare and Burnham- on-Sea, will be left with no coach links to these destinations because of the cutbacks.

National Express is also reviewing its entire coach operation, which means that services from London to Cumbria, London to North Wales and Norwich to Cambridge are also under threat.

David Redgewell, a spokes- man for the Transport 2000 campaign group, said Britain's bus services were in danger of becoming "Third World" and that it was vital that the Government introduced a regulator to oversee bus and coach companies.

"It is a major concern that services are being lost, especially at a time when integrated transport is top of the Government agenda," he said.

"We do feel that service withdrawals from rural areas need to be discussed with local transport authorities, central Government and regional planning conferences.

"There appears to be a major flaw in bus deregulation, in that we have no Ofbus or consumer panel to guide integrated transport policy.

"These withdrawals highlight a gap in the White Paper on long-distance scheduled coach services. It does not include a policy framework for coach services. There should be local or national subsidies for socially necessary coach services."

Mike Bibb, chairman of North Somerset council's planning, highways and transport committee, said the decision would severely affect the area's tourist industry.

"At a time when the Deputy Prime Minster [John Prescott] is trying to get everyone out of their cars and on to public transport, it's another kick in the teeth," he said. "There are large swathes of the country where coaches and railways still link up, but no one seems to have thought about this. It's appalling."

Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter, said he supported plans to introduce an Ofbus regulator. "This shows the importance of having a central strategy for coach travel in the same way as having a strategic rail authority," he said.

"It's all very well having a local strategy for buses, but coach companies tend to cream off the most profitable services at the expense of the rural services. The shareholders of these companies are already making a vast amount of money on other routes."

However, a spokesman for National Express said the company had no choice but to axe or reduce certain routes because they were unprofitable.

He added that the company was in discussions with local bus companies to make up for the lost services and that National Express had doubled some other services in its timetable.

"In some cases, the decision has been taken because of extremely low passenger numbers. But we will consider reviewing the situation next summer," he said.