It’s mid-December 2023 and I’m recovering from a major operation. After a fortnight’s stay in the Northern General and three weeks’ recovery at my partner’s in Wombwell, I’m heading back home to check that the old place is still standing.
“You can get a taxi for Broadway for less than £20 return,” says Janet.
“£20? You serious?” I reply. “I can use my bus pass to get into town and then jump on the Broadway bus which stops outside my home.”
Janet doesn’t reply - she merely shakes her head as if to say, ‘it’s your funeral’.
At the interchange, the wind outside reaches gale force and it begins to rain heavily but inside, the atmosphere is calm and dry. However, there’s a problem - the first bus misses, then the second.
“Any idea what’s happened to the Broadway buses?” I ask a woman in her 30s.
“Broadway buses?” she repeats, with raised eyebrows. “Haven’t you heard? They stopped them a few weeks back. You’ll have to catch the Dod’orth bus and get off near the motorway.”
As Janet and I step off the bus near the M1, the wind is now much fiercer and the lashing rain stings my face. Janet’s brolly turns inside-out, so she packs it away.
It’s a long, slow walk home. I have to keep stopping to rest and I bitterly regret not taking Janet’s advice about using taxis. I do manage the trek, but it’s touch and go at times.
A few weeks later, after discovering that the four-buses-per-hour for Broadway has now been reduced to zero, I get myself invited to a (virtual) transport meeting with the South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard and his colleagues.
A representative of Stagecoach is present and I make the case to get our old bus service reinstated. Sadly, the Stagecoach rep explains that their buses will never run on Broadway again because ‘the route is no longer profitable’.
With the help of the Better Buses for South Yorkshire campaign group, I fix up a public meeting at St Edward’s Church vestry.
When all the seats are taken and folk are still queuing to get in, John (who’s in charge of the church) moves the meeting upstairs into the main part of the building. I can’t help feeling delighted with the big turn-out. Questions are asked and answered and Mayor Coppard (plus ordinary residents who’ve never before spoken in public) address the meeting with passion and eloquence.
It becomes obvious to the Oliver Coppard team that the effects on the aging Broadway community is far more devastating than they first realised.
Then, several successful protest demonstrations later (including one for the Channel Four TV cameras), we manage to obtain a face-to-face meeting with the South Yorkshire directors of Stagecoach.
Ann Bywater, Fran Postlethwaite and I make a very robust case for the old service to be returned. Ann presents detailed written testimony, highlighting the appalling loneliness, isolation and distress that the route cancellation has caused. Some of the stories are, literally, far too distressing to relate in a family newspaper like the Chronicle.
The Stagecoach directors listen politely and sympathise most gravely, but they make it very clear that their main concern is the profits of their shareholders. Our request, and even a diluted version of it, is categorically denied.
We then turn to the South Yorkshire Mayor’s office to rescue the situation. They have a very limited budget to replace the ever-increasing number of routes ditched by Stagecoach each year.
Oliver Coppard explains that over the long-term, he plans to solve the problem by franchising, but in the short term, he and his colleagues will do their best to re-establish a Broadway service using tax-payers’ money.
Today, I am proud to announce that the South Yorkshire Mayor’s office has, indeed, offered us a new and greatly improved service - not as good as the four-buses-an-hour - but certainly one that is acceptable.
We are holding a public meeting at St Edward’s Church vestry on Wednesday at 2pm to discuss and ratify the new proposals.
In conclusion: whoever insisted that a public transport system, run for profit, could work for everyone, should hang their heads in shame. The premise should have been too stupid to even, seriously, consider.
In the end our Broadway bus campaign succeeded with flying colours, but only because many of our elderly residents were willing to protest against a cruel injustice.
I so love a true story with a happy ending!
