Council Leader calls for more support for Exeter’s vital bus services
Published: 5 July 2022
Exeter City Council Leader Phil Bialyk is calling for vital bus services in the city to be protected.
He is writing to Cllr John Hart, the Leader of Devon County Council, urging the authority to financially support Stagecoach in maintaining important services like Exeter’s threatened night bus.
Cllr Bialyk said he understood many of the difficulties the bus company is experiencing and said more needs to be done to ensure reliability of services.
He said: “I understand the recruitment difficulties the company is facing and the difficulties Covid continues to create on the availability of staff.
“We have been getting a lot of complaints from passengers about the reliability of services, and as a bus user myself I have also experienced this. As annoying as this is, I understand the problems that they face and I hope they can launch an effective recruitment campaign to ensure that they get the staff they need.
“While I understand that they need to make these service changes, they do need to keep them under review.”
Cllr Bialyk, a former Exeter bus driver, said it was important that the County Council, which has responsibility for transport, does more to support services in Exeter.
“It is very disappointing that Exeter’s night bus service is being withdrawn, and this will take time for people to get used to,” he said.
“We are committed to improving safety at night for women and girls in particular, which is why I would call on Devon County Council as the highways authority to step up and put financial support in place for this important service to continue.
“I would support Stagecoach in having more help to deliver reliable services that the public can rely on. The main thing is that the bus we go to catch actually arrives, and we need to continue to monitor this.
“So I will now be contacting Cllr John Hart, the Leader of Devon County Council, to explain why I think that the County should be doing more to protect bus services in Exeter.”