00:04North Shropshire is a very rural constituency and it is nestled in against the Welsh border, which is wiggly, I think is probably the best way to describe it.
00:14And that means that my constituents have an experience of using buses that can be problematic and I have tabled some amendments to reflect their experience that I hope the Minister will reflect on.
00:26Now, Shropshire is one of the worst service-served counties for buses, having lost 66% of its bus miles since 2015.
00:35It has lost more bus miles by percentage than any other county in England and the average loss of bus miles is about 20.9%.
00:44So it has been a severe experience for my constituents and towns like Market Drayton have become almost isolated really because their bus service is so poor.
00:53I am sure you have heard me say before that there is only one bus running in Shropshire on a Sunday.
01:00I am lucky enough to be able to report that it does run from a town in my constituency, but it is hardly an acceptable situation for my constituents.
01:08So New Clause 37, which has been signed by 30 colleagues from across the House, I think reflecting that it is not just the experience of my constituents, but people in many parts of rural Britain, tries to address this problem of poor bus services in market towns by requiring the Secretary of State to say that a service must be available seven days a week and that it consults with development bodies to ensure that those constituents using those bus services can access essential services.
01:37And when I tabled the bus services number one bill, it had this requirement in it and it was aimed essentially at getting people to hospital and other health services when they needed to, but it could equally be applied to schools, colleges and other important destinations for people who find themselves so isolated.
Be the first to comment