Bus services must be saved

IT was clear from the outset that a decision to scrap a number of bus services in Millom would have an effect on the community.

For many they are an essential part of life; the only way of getting from A to B in a cost-effective manner.

Not be able to get to the shops, or visit family is one thing.

But we today learn that the decision to axe the Barrow to Millom service along with the Millom to Haverigg service, has had a profound effect on some of the towns’ most vulnerable people.

The Prince’s Trust had planned to run a 12-week course at the Lighthouse Centre in Haverigg, with the express intention of targeting and helping young unemployed people to find work.
Such courses are essential in helping people who perhaps lack confidence or drive, to get their lives back on track.

So news the course has been pulled because of fears about accessibility due to the bus service cancellations, is a real blow to the area.

It is clear the potential for knock-on effects of this nature was given little or no consideration when the decision was made to scrap the services.

Stagecoach may have saved themselves some money by axing the buses from May 20 – but the cost to the community the company is deserting is already proving to be high.

Cash may be tight but something must be done to keep an element of these services running.

Perhaps a timely intervention from the county council is in order.