Ipswich Buses planned strike: emergency timetable

Ipswich Buses planned strike: emergency timetable, updates for parents and car park and travel advice

Ipswich Buses has published an emergency timetable for Monday 10th October for use if a one-day strike called by Unite the Union goes ahead.

The company is still committed to continuing talks in a bid to resolve the dispute but plans to get as many services as it can on the road, using double-decker buses where practical in order to help as many passengers as possible.

There will be a standard fare of £1 for all journeys – passes will be valid as usual. There will be no departures from Tower Ramparts after 7pm and most routes will not start until 7am. Full timetables are available from the Tower Ramparts Travel Shop and on the Ipswich Buses websitewww.ipswichbuses.co.uk

  

Ipswich Buses plans to operate a reduced Park & Ride service at both Copdock and Martlesham. This service is managed by Suffolk County Council.

The emergency timetable is attached below but additional changes affecting schools and colleges are listed here:

·      Suffolk County Council has announced that all dedicated school bus services (i.e. contracted services specifically for schools) are being covered by other bus operators and will clearly display the relevant service number. 

·      Parents of children who use public bus services (irrespective of whether the County Council pays for their travel or not) are advised to check the Suffolk On Board website www.suffolkonboard.com for details of whether the service will be running at a reduced frequency or not at all. 

·      Two County Council subsidised public services are also affected: Service 111 from Bildeston and 173 between Woodbridge and Felixstowe are to be replaced by another operator and Service 202 from Shotley will have two journeys operating to get students to and from college only.

·      Ipswich Buses will be operating the One sixth-form college routes from Felixstowe and Stowmarket.

·      Carter’s Coaches routes will not be affected by the strike action.

  

Car parks offer

Overall, it is expected there will be more congestion if the industrial action goes ahead. More people will be using cars to get into work, on school runs or entering or passing through the town.

As the town’s principal car park operator, Ipswich Borough Council plans to help reduce that congestion by cutting the cost of a day’s parking in its long-stay car parks to a maximum of £3 (from £5).

The Council will have staff at each of its main car parks to assist motorists find the best car parking.

Its own staff are being encouraged to adopt a more flexible working pattern to avoid the usual rush hour, and is encouraging car sharing and other ways of getting to work.

To find out the latest information on bus services on Monday, along with available car parking spaces updates, use @ipswichbuses on Twitter and the company’s Facebook page.

PLANNED EMERGENCY TIMETABLE – MONDAY 10^TH OCTOBER

South-west Ipswich

Route 13 will run every 30 minutes and 15/15A will both be running every 60 minutes. Routes 12, 14 and 16 will not run. Ipswich Buses hopes some customers on these less busy routes will be able to walk to the routes that are running. Carters’ route 93 also serves London Road and Carters will run services as normal. There will be double-deckers on Park & Ride providing extra seats for One sixth-form college but this route will also only run every 30 minutes.

North-west Ipswich

Route 8 will run every 30 minutes and routes 9/10 will both be running every 60 minutes. First route 88 also serves Norwich Road and 89 serves Bramford Road and will run normally. Unfortunately, routes 17 and 19 will not be running. Some of the customers on these less busy routes might be able to walk to Norwich Road or Henley Road. Galloways' 115 and 116 services will be running normally on Henley Road.

North-east Ipswich

Route X5 to Ipswich Hospital will run every 30 minutes and 6/6A will both be running every 60 minutes. Passengers might also wish to use the Park & Ride between the town centre and the hospital stop on the Colchester Road/Woodbridge Road roundabout. First routes 64, 65 and 66 run frequently along Woodbridge Road and these will operate as normal. First Buses’ route 75 will be running normally along Spring Road and serves the Hospital. First’s service 59 to the Northgate area (off-peak only) will also be running as normal.

South-east Ipswich

Route X3 will run every 30 minutes with journeys to Ransomes Euro Park at peak times. Routes X1 and 4 will not run. First Buses provides alternative services to Nacton Road and Gainsborough on Routes 60/61 and to Felixstowe Road on services 76 and 77.

Wherstead Road and Shotley

A reduced timetable will apply on route 98/98A. Carters’ routes will run as normal. First X7 also serves Wherstead Road.

Country buses

Suffolk County Council is making arrangements for another company to run routes 111 and 173. Carters’ routes (92-96 etc) will run normally.

School and college buses

Ipswich Buses will run routes 11A, 18A, 501, 502, 914 and 988 as normal. Route 11B will not run. Other school contract buses will be provided by other operators for Suffolk County Council.

Town centre shuttle

The free town centre shuttle, route 38, will not be running.

Ipswich Buses - Changes to fares and timetable

Fares

For many years we have charged a standard fare of £1 at all times for children travelling on our town buses, and we recently extended this to anyone aged under 20 and carrying appropriate ID. We also offer a day ticket for £2, a one week ticket for £10 and a 4 week ticket for £32.

From 1^st September 2016 we will be increasing the child fare for journeys starting before 0830 on Mondays to Fridays to £1.20 and the price of the 10 trip ticket to £9.50. This change is necessary because of underlying increases in costs since the last review of fares was undertaken and because of cuts in other fares revenue from Suffolk County Council. The most regular users who travel twice in a day, or commit to buying weekly or 4 weekly tickets will not see any change in fares, but less regular users will face an increase reflecting the fact that we need to provide capacity for them even if they are not using the bus. There is no time limit on using up 10 trip tickets bought at the old price. The child fare will still be £1 from 0830 on Mondays to Fridays and all day at weekends and on Bank Holidays.

For a carer taking children to school a new “One PLUS Three” ticket will be available at any time, giving unlimited travel on our town buses all that day for one adult and up to three children for £6.50. This will offer a significant discount compared to other on the day tickets when the first journey is before 1000 on schooldays. We are writing to you now so that everyone is able to consider what impact these changes might have upon their travel choices as they prepare for the new school year in September.

Timetable changes

Following cuts in concessionary fares payments by Suffolk County Council we have had to make reductions to the number of journeys on routes 14 and 19 from 4^thSeptember 2016. Route 14 currently operates hourly, but there will consequently be longer gaps in the timetable. We believe the revised timetable will still provide the necessary lifeline to those who cannot walk up the steep hills on this route. Route 19 currently runs every 30 minutes but will now run broadly hourly before 0900 and after 1500.

Following the withdrawal of First’s route 53 we will be increasing the frequency of route 13 to operate every 10 minutes all day. This should ensure that the large numbers of commuters and students depending on this busy route will be accommodated despite it being abandoned by First.

We will also be adjusting a number of other journeys to improve time-keeping.

Jeremy Cooper

Managing Director

Ipswich Buses Ltd

Snippets from Ipswich Conservatives and lessons from Andy Murray

It's been over a week since I last blogged - it's been a very busy time, not just in politics but in my work too.

So I thought I would do some snippets of information to capture what we've been up to as a group.

Talking to residents is always a priority for me and I have been with Ben Gummer and other colleagues in Stoke Park and Sprites Wards to listen to their concerns. One of my main questions is 'How do you think Ben is doing?'

The answers are resoundingly positive, although I won't pretend that every single person is appreciative but on the whole the feedback has been excellent, with the main theme being 'He cares about Ipswich'.

They couldn't be more right. Ben puts our interests first and works as hard as he can to put us on the map and help individual residents.

Meet Ben yourself as there are various ways he is accessible.

Ben's blog is also very interesting if you want to catch up with latest news, locally and centrally.


One of the most recent meetings that Ben set up was with Justine Greening and the Bangladeshi community leaders. This was held at UCS at the Waterfront Ipswich and was a good hour long chat where Justine certainly left a brilliant impression with everyone. She was genuine, eloquent, savvy and delightful and took away some good ideas about bringing the cultures together as well as providing information about what is going on back at Westminster and globally.

As well as working closely with Ben, I have been busy with the petition to save bus route 16 and thanks to the residents this was a complete success and our valuable route will proceed with the current timetable - I will be reviewing in a few months time to ensure this continues.

I have been helping several residents with their benefits, council tax rebates and Job seekers allowance and find this the most rewarding of all because it can actually change lives for the better. One couple even walked round with a bunch of flowers for me to say a huge thankyou. Totally unnecessary but I appreciated it and it's good to be valued in this way, for a change!

I've attended several licensing sub committees and I've been left very proud of how our local police handle some problem areas such as street drinking, under-age sales and working with the licensing trade in general. We have led the way with new projects to make our streets safer and our licensing trades more responsible. Our best practice is being sought after in other parts of the country where we can show that partnership working is a winning formula.


Lastly, I allowed myself a complete day off on Sunday, enjoying the sun and watching a brilliant performance by Andy Murray. His attitude and peak mental as well as physical display is a lesson to everyone.

Have your dream
Love what you do
Work Hard
Have the right people around you
Learn from your mistakes
Give something back along the journey

I'm doing my best to have a Tory majority government in 2015 and have the ingredients above to play my part. Ipswich Conservatives are working hard to bring you the best local candidates and we are always looking for helpers.

If you would like to help either Ben or myself then please feel free to contact me via e-mail, twitter (@stokeparkcllr) or phone

Details of our team are here

On the Buses - (Yes our own comedy version)

Last night we had our full council meeting at the Town hall in Ipswich where I invited residents to hear questions from me about Ipswich Buses and subsidy for route 16.

Following the petition I instigated in my ward, Ipswich Buses went from taking out the service altogether, to a reduced service starting at the end of July.

Despite the confirmation of Councillor Smart and Ellesmere, at executive Tuesday, that the route would be fully subsidised and that the service would run 'as it does now', this is not true at this moment.

From trying to clarify that the service would have exactly the same timetable as it does now, I have ascertained and they have confirmed that there are options on the table and that Councillor Smart feels there will be a 'positive outcome'.

My husband asked a couple of questions in order to extract an apology from the leader of the council for misleading the residents about the Conservative position. Of course he never expected one because Ellesmere would prefer to joke around and poke fun at people rather than be serious about the fact that the Labour group had put out nasty literature.

What they need to know is that their letter bombed with the residents - they hated the political spite and many of them sent me a copy in the post with their comments of how disgusting it was. But this is their style and they were never going to admit that the petition prompted Ipswich Buses to change their mind or that they have absolutely no idea what we did or didn't know about route 16. Councillor Smart certainly had some 'smart' comments ready (they do receive the questions beforehand) including one about me still being a councillor next year after I asked to be kept fully informed. At least he confirmed something - that the situation with bus 16 will not need looking at again for nearly a year (strange how the solution at executive was for only the next 6 months though).

So we wait to see the final 'option' that is decided and I will be keeping a close eye and ear so that my residents can be informed professionally and in a proper manner.

I think the labour group must take masterclasses on how to behave in council. It probably goes something like this:'Think of a time when you were back at school - see what you saw then, hear what you heard then and think about the times you so enjoyed making a lot of noise, like blowing raspberries or hectoring the teacher. Perhaps you enjoyed walking around in a pack making these noises. Yes that's right, remember how you felt.Now apply all that to the full council meeting.'

As a resident said to my husband about the labour group as she left the full council meeting - it went something like this:-

That's my first and last time I attend one of these, they behave as if they are still in the school playground.

Anyway. the following is from Ipswich Spy who summarised it nicely.

'Cllr Lockington was concerned that the new bus route 39, introduced to replace services 22 and 31, both deregistered by their commercial providers, didn’t give the same coverage for residents of St Margaret’s Ward, and Cllr Smart agreed, explaining that Ipswich Borough Council were hoping that Suffolk County Council would split the 39 service returning both the original routes – which IBC would be prepared to help support. And Cllr Smart also pledged to support service 14/14A at the current level of service.

But the real row broke out over the contentious route 16, where Tory councillor Nadia Cenci has been attacked by Labour councillors over a leaflet she distributed as part of a petition. Her husband used public question time to demand an apology and retraction from Cllr David Ellesmere, Labour leader of the council, over allegations made in a letter from Labour councillors to residents, but none was forthcoming.

As for Cllr Cenci herself, she tried in vain to tie Cllr Smart up in knots. At Tuesday night’s Executive committee meeting, Cllr Smart had told councillors that the “existing situation” on the routes 14/14A, 16 and 19 would be achievable for £30,000 which he obtained approval for. This position was summed up by Cllr David Ellesmere, who said “all the existing routes should be able to be kept.” So far, so good for residents.

Yet one line from Cllr Ellesmere caused confusion and led to last nights requests for clarification, which still didn’t shine a lot of light. Cllr Ellesmere implied that the service 16 would be maintained by a commercial service off peak, hourly, and supplemented by a peak time service supported by Ipswich Borough Council.

This follows what was expected, following a letter from Ipswich Buses managing director Malcolm Robson, sent to right wing blogger James Spencer.

Because of this confusion, Cllr Cenci attempted to get a firm declaration from Cllr Smart in the meeting, yet from the public gallery the situation appeared less clear after the questions than it had before. Cllr Smart told us that he would give as firm an assurance as he could, for legal reasons, that the service 16 would continue as it is now. But when asked to commit to the current half hourly service, he prevaricated.'

Yes indeed. In fact the flavour of the whole meeting was obvious. the portfolio holders barely asked one single question we put to them and the mayor lost control of the meeting at one point.

Not one of IBC's finest full council meetings.

Petition Success - But more to do!

Walking round my ward yesterday delivering my latest leaflet (below), I chatted to various residents who wanted to talk about the latest situation regarding bus route 16.

It was evident that they had a real community spirit about them, had rallied together to sign the petition resulting in 400 signatures as we speak, and are as determined as I am to do their bit.

Now for the latest news:

Ipswich Buses has changed it's mind and will now provide a reduced service from end of July, which consists of starting at 9.30am and finishing at 3pm.

There is an executive meeting next Tuesday by the Labour administration to decide options for funding the rest of the day, but also on only an hourly timetable.

I am still fighting for the residents to have, as a minimum, the service they have now, which is every half hour and is very busy. In fact many have said how much busier this route is, than others in the town that have no threat to the service.

I will be asking questions at the full council meeting next Wednesday for their decision to be made public.

So there is still more to do but thanks to the support of the residents and the resounding reply to the petition, we have made good progress. It has focused the mind of the decision makers and has also given me a greater insight into how much my older residents totally rely on a regular service to have any quality of life. I will continue this campaign.

The council meeting is at the Town Hall 26th June at 6pm, if you want to come along and listen to the answers to my questions.

Latest on the No 16 Bus route petition

What a week!

Firstly, I would like to re-iterate that at no time did I instigate the information regarding the cessation of route 16 by Ipswich Buses.
I was contacted by a lady on the Royals which was quickly followed by several others. I decided to contact Ipswich Buses as did a colleague of mine - same answer, 'Yes we are stopping the service but we may be able to find funds for a reduced service' was generally the idea. Not good enough, I thought.

I literally jumped into action, dropped everything I was doing including work I had planned for the business that I run, to immediately start the petition. Some residents didn't know about the cessation but many had heard it from the staff of IB eg bus drivers. Communication of this was terrible including not warning me beforehand.

Now Labour councillors are trying to discredit me, despite the fact I have been a councillor for 7 years and have never blamed Labour for anything in previous leaflets, preferring to just state what I have been doing.

I started a windfarm survey last year with Ben Gummer MP without mentioning anything about the labour position, preferring to concentrate on what's important, even though I know many of them are FOR the development, because they have stated so publicly, and I was the only councillor in SW Ipswich that has publicly come out against the development. Residents make their own mind up when they read either parties literature. I work hard in my ward and people know that.

So what's happened since? Well, I am hearing conflicting views and still nowhere nearing knowing the solution, with some labour councillors saying it will carry on with Ipswich Buses and a subsidy and some saying it will be a private company. Neither option tells me if it is a reduced or status quo service.
Should I just say 'Oh ok then, let's forget the petition? (I've got 140 signatures so far just from Fountains Road and The Royals - they are dropping on my doormat every day). No of course not. They have a voice and I am giving them a vehicle.

The next thing I'd like to clarify is that Labour keep saying I voted against having funds for a bus subsidy. I DID NOT. They are talking about an amount of £ 140k that was included as part of the yearly budget. We had put in an alternative budget and so it would've been really stupid of me to vote for their budget and then for our alternative budget! There has never been any stand alone vote for bus subsidy and even when we tried to clarify what the £ 140k was for, we got a vague answer that was politic-speak. Take a look for yourself below. Cllr Carnall tried to get a categoric reply, in his supplementary, which Cllr Smart still did not answer but it would've been so easy just to say - 'No I can confirm none of it is to plug any holes in IB pensions'..

Even if I felt reassured, there were several things we did not agree in their budget so we would still have voted against theirs and for our alternative one. The £ 140k is a moot point and is being used by some labour councillor to discredit me, one in a telephone conversation with the leader of the council. Take a look at comments in my last post. Believe me, I will never become as political and as devious as that!

Also notice the other bits I've highlighted below, which shows that Labour consider themselves responsible for Ipswich Buses. Is it not a bit rich now to claim that I am blaming the wrong people?!

The truth is they do not like me holding them to account - It is my job and I will do so for as long as I am a councillor and, actually, even if I am not!  If they want to tell me now that running the buses is nothing to do with them, then the next time they use it to electioneer, I will again hold them to account.

I've learnt never to assume anything and to speak and write in a very clear direct fashion using 'clean' language so that everyone knows where they stand. I don't think this falls into that category so now to the question at council and more importantly the supplementary - you make up your own mind -

Madam Mayor: Question 4 Councillor Carnall to Councillor Smart

Councillor Carnall: Thank you Madam Mayor. The Administration's budget
for 2012/13 contains provision for £140,000 to be spent on supporting public
transport in the town. How does the Portfolio Holder intend to spend this
money?

Madam Mayor: Councillor Smart to reply.
Councillor Smart: Yes thank you Madam Mayor. There have been a
number of options that we’ve been considering in discussion with the major
local bus operators about this, looking at a variety of possibilities on
infrastructure improvements and some revenue support type of measures {what does this mean?}.
Unfortunately, as I am sure Councillor Carnall is aware, we’ve got thanks to
the goodness of the 1985 Transport Act which unfortunately encourages this
sort of thing we’ve got a bus war on at the moment in the town and it’s rather
a sensitive area because it’s absolutely essential that whatever we do is not
perceived to provide an advantage for one company over another. I certainly
look forward this activity settling down into some kind of steady state going
forward so that we can plan public transport properly in this town.

Madam Mayor: Do you have a supplementary Councillor Carnall?4
Supplementary:

Councillor Carnall: Just to clarify for me perhaps Councillor Smart will
confirm that the money will be available to support the services operated by
any bus company serving Ipswich and will not just be an excuse to subsidise
the pension deficit of Ipswich Buses Ltd?


Councillor Smart: Madam Mayor that did sound like a supplementary
question had been written before I gave the answer to the original question. I
thought I had made it absolutely clear that discussions had taken place with
both the major operators about possible moves that we could make which are
seen to be fair to all operators. {my comment to this is Does this sound like clarity on the £140k or just a general action point?}

Saving Our Bus Route no 16 by Ipswich Buses - Petition

Residents started to call me at the beginning of the week to enquire about the stopping of bus 16, a route that picks up many of our most vulnerable and aged.

I knew nothing about this and didn't believe it at first so I called Ipswich Buses myself where it was confirmed that it would indeed be ceased sometime in July, as an estimate.

I was incensed to learn it was for financially reasons as I know other routes are less popular but it is because most of the users are old aged pensioners and so the income on this service is challenging.

The first question I have to ask is why Councillor Smart, Transport portfolio holder, or his colleagues, some of whom are on the board at Ipswich Buses, did not think to send out a letter to residents, or to me for that matter to keep me advised?

I have started up a petition to ensure that no private company takes over this route - as we know what will happen to the service if they do - and to ask Ipswich Buses to change their mind & work with Ipswich Borough Council to find the funds.

Labour councillors are now upset that I have sent out a leaflet to the residents on the relevant route in Stoke Park, because they say they are sorting it out. however I would like to point some things out to them.

1) the petition is for IB to keep the route, no other solution will do
2) to ensure that IBC consider funding the route for IB, NOT a private company
3) It is my duty, especially as I am the only Tory councillor in the SW Ipswich, to hold the Labour group/the administration to account and that is what I am doing.

The residents are queueing up at my door, telephone and my e-mail. Most of them have checked for themselves with IB and have been advised that the cessation is going ahead.

THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Some of the residents have not been into town for ages because the route has been suspended due to roadworks. Some can just about make it to the bus-stop but will not be able to walk the distance to an alternative stop in Fountains road, although this will be an option for younger people.

Our old should be the most valued in our society and whether it's from face to face chatter or my leaflet, it has upset a few of them - but they deserve to know what's going on and if Labour had cared about it enough  in the first place, they would have already done that job for me.

If you use this bus to come to Stoke Park and have not had the petition leaflet through your door then please feel free to contact me below with your comments.