Port Clarence: 'Isolated' village loses first bus service in a decade after just three months

The number 68 bus from Port Clarence to Billingham and the University Hospital of North Tees was introduced in February. However it is to end after next week’s half-term holiday because of “low demand”, with operator Stagecoach saying it brought in just £12.58 a day and four people per trip.

Councillor Katie Weston, Labour member for Billingham South, said: “There’s a lot of kids who aren’t doing anything after school because they literally can’t get back, they rely on the school bus. And people doing their shopping, going to the doctors’, because Billingham is their town centre.

“It’s been at least a decade since since there was a bus service that gets people from Port Clarence to Billingham. We had multiple meetings with Stagecoach.”

She said Stagecoach brought in the 68 service once a day on a trial basis: “We thought we’d try and get enough people to use it then we might be able to build on it and they might be able to put more times in place. It took us months to get to that point.”

But she believed the time and cost of the service did not work for everyone: “Basically the passenger numbers aren’t high enough for Stagecoach to be financially viable for a private company to run. It’s a private company that at the very least needs to break even to run that service.”

She said she did not blame Stagecoach’s North-east managing director Steve Walker, but argued the system needed to be changed for outlying areas to get bus services. She added: “Less than half of the population of Port Clarence has access to a car, so it does leave them very isolated, socially and economically.

“What they need is an actual proper regular bus service, and given the current system that we have, it’s just not going to happen. If we had a system like Manchester has, we could run bus services for community need rather than private profit.”

She raised the matter at a full council meeting on Wednesday night (May 21), saying: “A private bus company cannot make a profit from a customer base of a village, especially off-peak. Does the leader agree that bus services shouldn’t be ran purely on a profit motive, and instead, like Teesside Airport, should be ran as a public service?”

Council leader Coun Lisa Evans replied: “I totally agree with you that every area across the borough deserves access to a regular bus service. Unfortunately this has proved problematic for many years for vulnerable communities such as the Clarences.

“I totally agree that transport cannot purely be run on a profit motive and the needs of communities must be taken into consideration.” She said she was happy to approach Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen to ask him to consider subsidising buses for all vulnerable areas which did not have buses, and to request an answer to a letter sent by the council earlier in the year asking for buses to be taken back into public control.

Coun Evans said they had received no answer yet. Mr Houchen had said in January: “Franchising buses would mean years of costly bureaucracy, handing hundreds of millions to companies like Arriva and Stagecoach, and a significant tax increase on local people – something I’ve promised never to do.

“Instead of gambling taxpayers’ money on a vague, unworkable idea, we’re delivering real improvements now: £1 fares for young people, and targeted funding for new services where it’s needed most. Passengers deserve results now, not an expensive experiment with no guarantee of success.”

A Stagecoach spokesperson said: “Following a meeting between Stagecoach North-east managing director Steve Walker, and Coun Weston and residents of Port Clarence, Stagecoach agreed to trial a return journey from Port Clarence to Billingham and North Tees Hospital for a three-month period, to benchmark the community’s assertion that it would be well used. This trial was undertaken in good faith, and at Stagecoach’s commercial risk, with the service numbered as route 68.

“Unfortunately, across the first six weeks of operation, service 68 has carried an average of four people per trip, with a total revenue of £12.58 each day. Labour costs alone for operating these trips has been around £80 per day.

“This is before fuel and vehicle costs are factored. With such low demand, it was determined the trial could not be extended beyond the three months, and Coun Weston was informed.

“Coun Weston did request that we continued the service for a further week, so as to cover the May school holidays, to which we have agreed. However, service 68 will not be extended beyond that point.

“It should be noted that travel between Port Clarence and Billingham and North Tees Hospital remains possible, either by changing buses on Haverton Hill Road, or directly by travelling on the Tees Flex demand responsive bus service.”