Over the last 6 months there have been discussions with Hampshire County Council about the provision of Bus Shelters in Downs Ward, one of the items that was clear feedback during my election. This has also been supported by a number of residents who have been in touch with the Parish and County Council too.
Bizarrely, it seems that the bus companies who make a business out of the service do not have to provide, nor contribute to any of the bus shelters that are key to providing a good service. County Council who own the pathways and licence the bus operators are also not able to fund any and instead suggest that Parish or District might like to instead.
Long and short of it is that we can probably fund some additional bus stops from something called ‘Transport Developers Contributions’. These are monies handed over by developers, like on Green lane, for road safety improvements, or schemes that support public transport.
Each bus shelter will cost about £2,500 for a very basic style, so we will not be able to secure enough funding for every stop in the Parish.
The next step is to find out which bus stops have the greatest usage and then to raise some funds, get some permissions, get 3 quotes, find someone who will maintain them, and finally have some fitted… only a few more hurdles to go through! If all goes well then maybe we will have some for this winter.
If you have strong views on which are the busiest bus stops then please email me on guy.shepherd@easthants.gov.uk and let me know.
