Transport and Bus Link Group

The main concern of our Transport and Bus Link Group is the Village Link bus service, although over the years the group has also lobbied concerning other bus services, car parking and dangerous road conditions.

Residents outside County Hall in 2001 before lobbying County Councillors

The Village Link Bus

History

The Village Link bus service was set up in 2001, with help from Durham County Council, after we took a group of village residents to County Hall to explain to our County Councillors how much the service was needed.
At first the service ran on 3 days a week, but this was increased to the 5 days a week on which it now runs.
Throughout, the County Council has advised us and has paid 25% of the running costs of the service, whilst we have paid 75%. The service is operated by Stanley Travel and costs us about £1,000 a month.

Route and Timetables

The bus is equipped with a lifting platform to help any passengers who might have disabilities.

The service carries residents to and from the village centre. It runs on weekdays, covering most of the village, every hour from 9:30 to 1:30. On Wednesdays the route is slightly different – the bus calls in at Lanchester Nursery.

The basic fare is £1.50, but normal concessions apply.

Covid

The bus seats are spaced out to minimise risk of Covid transmission.

Since the start of the first Covid lock-down passenger numbers have been down but Luke, the driver, has been helping house-bound residents enormously by fitting in errands for them such as buying groceries, collecting prescriptions and even getting cash out for them.

Now passenger numbers are back to about ¾ of what they were before the epidemic.

The Future

We are looking into the possibility of the bus calling in at Willowburn Hospice and the Maiden View estate on one day a week, possibly Monday. Do you have any views on this? If so, please ring me.

Cuts to Go North East Bus Services

In the past we have fought against bus service cuts, often successfully.

In 2011 many cuts were proposed, and we campaigned against them, including a public meeting with county councillors and county council officers in St Bede’s school hall. All the proposed cuts to Lanchester services were withdrawn.

Suggested “X30” Bus Service to Newcastle

We recently asked the Go North East bus company and our 2 county councillors to consider reintroducing an express service from Lanchester to Newcastle using new X-lines commuter-friendly buses with wi-fi etc. We were politely listened to, but it seems that our request was promptly “forgotten”.

We need to decide whether to persist with it.

Please will you let me know what you think. If you are one of the residents have already given their comments to Lesley Anderson, you do not need to repeat them.

Danger from Traffic

We have asked the County Council to try to improve traffic safety in places. This picture is a meeting on Ford Road of our County Councillor Tom Forster, a police officer, 2 traffic engineers, and Maureen Loy of the partnership. As a result, traffic speed monitoring on Ford Road was introduced.

Membership of the Working Group

The Transport “Working Group” needs more members. If anyone would like to join in, they will be very welcome. Please ring me.

Mike Gladstone

Tel: 01207 528 114

26^th April 2022