Battle over cuts to retail park bus service

Disgruntled users of the No 13 bus in York will get a response to their petition against service cuts at a council meeting at 4pm today when the City Strategy Decision Session meeting takes place in the Guildhall.

The meeting will be told significant numbers of users of the service in Heworth have registered their opposition to changes proposed by First York, which have seen a local link to Monks Cross stopped, as well as morning and evening services cut.

Heworth councillor Barbara Boyce will be addressing Executive Member Steve Galloway at a Decision Session meeting on behalf of those who have signed a petition.

She said: "It is a crazy situation we now have where for many people dependent upon public transport who live in an area neighbouring Monks Cross, that they cannot shop or work there due to the changes imposed by First. A great many older people have used the No 13 service to and from Monks Cross in the past as it is flat and suitable for those with mobility issues.

"But the removal of a means to access a major site of employment strikes me as perverse in a time of recession when people need every bit of help to get a job and keep it."

Coun Boyce said she will be calling on Coun Galloway to ensure a service exists for those people that have relied on the link to Monks Cross in the past, particularly in the Dodsworth Avenue/Elmfield Avenue and Huntington Road areas.

First York chose to cut parts of the No 13 route, including those serving Monks Cross Shopping Park at certain times of day, because of concerns over its usage and "ongoing commercial viability".

This sparked a 169-name petition to York Council calling for the full service to be retained, and also led to a public meeting with councillors and company chiefs. But a report to today's meeting underlines that keeping the Monks Cross link would mean a subsidy of more than 2 per customer, and questions would be asked whether this was a wise use of public money.