A campaign to oppose the planned swingeing bus service cuts for some of the most vulnerable groups in Kent will be mounted by the union Unite.
Kent County Council (KCC) is preparing to slash £4m from the ‘socially necessary bus services’ (SNBS) budget over the next two years, 2018-2020.
The cuts will mean the axing of 74 SNBS contracts affecting services used by pensioners, the disabled and their carers, and low paid workers without cars, as well as school children. A total of 1.6m journeys a year are made on the threatened routes.
The services that will be hit are across the county include: Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and Malling districts.
Unite regional officer Dave Weeks says: “The proposed bus cuts are disproportionately targeting some of the most vulnerable in Kent – the disabled and the elderly. School children will also have to find alternative ways to get to their schools.
“70% of the SNBS budget is due to be axed by 2020, but when set against the council’s £940m annual budget, it is a drop in the ocean.
“We will be launching a campaign to mobilise public opinion to get the council to reverse this harsh plan which threatens to isolate rural communities and deepen divisions in society.
“We are also concerned for our members’ jobs who work for the bus companies operating throughout Kent. There is the threat that some of the smaller bus companies, which rely on SNBS money, will close down and it is not expected that community transport services will be able to plug that gap.”
There will be a consultation period running from 17 January to 27 March 2018 and, if the plan goes ahead, the bus services will cease from September next year.
UPDATE:
At a KCC meeting on 7 December, Councillor Paul Carter admitted that “bus subsidies are among the potential savings” the council are considering, but conceded he felt the publication by KCC of a list 78 routes that may lose council subsidies was “premature.”
Currently 78 ‘socially necessary’ bus routes, which are not commercially viable and are subsidised by Kent County Council, may lose their funding in a bid to save £4m.
