Student from Heathfield campaigns against cuts in Stagecoach bus service

Erin’s petition to halt changes in 51 bus frequency gains momentum

Erin Wigham was very concerned when she saw the proposed change to the 51 bus timetable. The change to hourly from half-hourly was the source of her concern. Anyone who has used Stagecoach bus services will have experienced frequent cancellations and delays to their journeys. Erin found herself waiting two hours for a bus home from college at Eastbourne’s DGH bus stop. Another young person, Jack White, had to give up his evening job in Heathfield because of the difficulties getting home in the evenings.

Erin, who is a 20 year old student studying Media at South Downs College, started the petition on March 10th to make the Heathfield community aware of these changes and to give everyone the chance to say what they thought about the changes. This whipped up a wave of protest on Heathfield’s Facebook page and her petition now has over 1000 signatures, which she hopes will mean Stagecoach will find it less easy to ignore the sentiment. The change is due to be made on 31 March this year.

She isn’t stopping with the petition and has also reached out to a BBC Sussex journalist, local radio and local councillors. “Erin explained: “This is not ideal for people using the bus during peak hours and I am also concerned for the health of disabled and elderly residents who rely on the bus as the bus stops are not sheltered from the cold winters because a lot of residents who rely on the bus are disabled, cannot drive or elderly. There are also unwell people going into and coming out of the Eastbourne hospital, who will also find the lack of service challenging. I’m completely reliant on the bus service as neither myself or my mum drives. ‘

ESCC Councillor, Anne Cross comments

Councillor, Anne Cross agreed saying “Heathfield is not served well by public transport already, to make reductions will affect many people, especially the elderly and disabled.”

She expanded:

“I’m shocked to hear that Stagecoach are planning to cut the 51 bus service through Heathfield & Mayfield by 50%. This is a service that many residents rely on to get to Eastbourne, Tunbridge Wells and all places in between. I’ve been inundated with emails from angry and upset residents, including many elderly and disabled people, students and those relying on the service to get to work.

“Stagecoach does not have a reputation for reliability, if an hourly bus doesn’t turn up this will leave people waiting potentially in the cold for up to two hours. This is totally unacceptable in a time when ESCC is encouraging us to get out of our cars and use public transport.

“I am also concerned that residents in Heathfield & Mayfield who live close to this bus route are unable to use the Flexibus, because they live on the current 51 route. This denied service could be a suitable alternative; how infrequent would Stagecoaches service have to be for residents to be allowed to use Flexibus? Weekly?

“I have raised my concerns with the Director of Transport at ESCC and with Stagecoach. I would encourage residents to email stagecoach customer.services@stagecoachbus.com and copying to me. I am also supporting the petition started by Erin which has already gathered over 1100 signatures

From the emails she has received here are some examples of how people will be affected.

Woman who lives in Horam and works in Heathfield – will have a choice of arriving in Heathfield at 7.09 or 9.07 – totally unsuitable for work hours.

Young man who lives in Mayfield who has just passed his driving test but doesn’t want to use his car every day – he uses the 51 to connect with the 29A to get to college in Brighton every day.

Young woman who lives in Heathfield she has high functioning autism and dyspraxia, and is not a driver. She relies on this service to go to college in Eastbourne. She has many experiences of this bus service leaving her stranded for hours. ‘

We contacted Stagecoach to ask them to respond

Joel Mitchell, Stagecoach South East managing director said, “We provide most of the 51 service on a commercial basis which means there’s no local authority funding to support the daytime frequency on Mondays to Saturdays.

“We absolutely don’t want to be reducing the frequency of buses on route 51, but with less than one passenger per mile between Hailsham and Tunbridge Wells, we can’t sustain the financial loss of continuing to offer a half hourly service along this section of the route.

“We want to be able to keep frequencies as high as possible because we know that gives people the flexibility and helps make the bus a more attractive option. But we need more people to use the buses more often to be able to keep frequencies high.

“We’ve been able to retain the 15-minute frequency where demand is highest between Hailsham and Eastbourne. Although we can no longer offer buses every 30-minutes north of Hellingly, our new timetable will offer a sustainable and more reliable hourly service which we hope will continue meet the needs of everyone who uses this route.”

A Stagecoach spokesperson also went on to expand on the notorious unreliability of the the service, highlighted at the start of our article. The response is reassuring over their staffing and attempts to run a reliable service.

“Regarding the reliability of the service, we have had some big challenges in recent years, particularly as a result of a driver vacancy gap and the impacts of traffic congestion which significantly affect our operations in the Eastbourne area. The good news is that our vacancy gap is closed – we now have all the drivers we need to operate our local network – and we’re working closely with ESCC and local politicians to bring about much needed changes to help prioritise bus flow on the roads. We’re hopeful that with government funding and physical infrastructure improvements (such as bus lanes) we can continue to improve reliability for the good of the economy, the environment and the communities we serve.”

SIGN THE PETITION HERE: https://www.change.org/p/stop-stagecoach-from-changing-the-51-service-to-eastbourne-to-hourly-from-half-hourly