June 27, 2019 4.53 pm This story is over 57 months old

Lincoln villagers ‘trapped’ by new bus cuts

Other villages will see improvements though

Residents in a Lincoln village will see their half hourly bus service cut to just two a day when plans from Stagecoach take effect at the end of July.

Only around 15 people a day are using the bus service from Scothern to Lincoln, so Stagecoach is planning to slash the level of service to the village.

Instead, the bus operator said it will be increasing the frequency of buses between Welton, Dunholme and Lincoln up to every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday.

Lincolnshire County Council said it will be introducing an extra CallConnect bus into the area as an alternative.

But David Mason, who has lived in Scothern for 35 years, told The Lincolnite he is annoyed because he believes there was no consultation with the village’s residents.

He said: “The service from Scothern to Lincoln will be reduced to just one service at 8.07am and another at 5.20pm, so just two a day instead of half hourly.

“There has been no consultation with the village residents and our parish council knew nothing about it.

The impact of this is greatest on those without transport or elderly people who are now cut off and isolated in the village, making them feel trapped.

“I am trying to persuade Stagecoach to put it on hold for a while to allow us to discuss it within the village and go back with some counter proposals.”

Stagecoach is currently in discussions with Lincolnshire County Council to reduce the level of service to the village.

It said Scothern will continue to have a peak hour bus service for people travelling to and from work, with the daytime journeys being provided by the council’s CallConnect minibuses.

Timetables for the revised bus services are being finalised with Lincolnshire County Council. They will be published before the change is introduced on July 29, 2019.

Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways and transport, said: “Stagecoach have stated that numbers travelling from Scothern do not merit the current level of service and have decided to concentrate the service on Dunholme and Welton.

“We know that many people in rural areas rely on buses to get about. So, to complement the existing CallConnect service, we’ll be introducing an extra CallConnect bus into the area, which will also offer some fixed-route journeys when Stagecoach withdraw their Scothern service next month.

“People can continue to book CallConnect journeys at times when the fixed routes are not operating. A timetable will be available in the near future.”