LOCALS who have been campaigning to save a ‘lifeline’ bus service on Broadway will finally have their calls answered next month.
The Better Buses for Broadway campaign, headed by resident Ronnie Steele, was started when Stagecoach culled the 44 and 43 services in the area last October.
It left residents without a route to Barnsley Hospital and nearby supermarkets - and prompted more than 1,000 people to sign a petition which was ultimately handed into Stagecoach and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority earlier this year.
The campaign has seen numerous meetings held at St Edward’s Church in Kingstone - and it culminated in another successful meeting this week.
The new South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority-commissioned service - the 33 - will replace the former Stagecoach-operated 43 and 44 which served the Broadway area from September 1.
Ronnie Steele told the Chronicle: “Representatives from the South Yorkshire Mayor’s Office, South Pennine Bus Company and Barnsley Community Transport, were present to answer queries.
“The upshot of the meeting is that the people of the Broadway area, and those from further afield - who use the Woodland Drive Medical Centre - will all benefit enormously from the new 33 service that starts September 1.
“Not only will buses now run more frequently, the new service will create direct links to Barnsley Hospital and Morrison’s supermarket - destinations we’ve been campaigning for.
“I wish to thank the following members of the steering group for their hard-work, optimism and never-say-die attitude - Ann Bywater, Dave and Lisa Jackson, Fran Postlethwaite, George Arthur, Heather Prince and Garry Moore.
“But above all I want to thank Lib Dem Coun Chris Wray who’s been a tower of strength throughout the campaign.
“Moreover John, Fred and others from St Edward’s Church, have shown how it’s possible to generously support a struggling community in its hour of need.”
A SYMCA report, which was discussed by county bosses at a meeting in July, said a budget of just over £11m is available for tendered bus routes this year.
“Route changes are commercial decisions, made by the operators, which the authority cannot control,” it said.
“Changes are summarised based on the positive and negative effect they have on the network.
“There is an increased risk due to the amount of expenditure on the tendered service network (£11.89m budget for 2023/24) as well as the loss of services caused by commercial cuts, as the available budget must be used efficiently and effectively to maintain the health of the network.
“All commercial changes will be documented with their effects on the network.
“This documentation will include any changes which lead to breaches of the agreed tendered services criteria.
“These breaches will be used as the foundation of the service change requests, and each request and new tendered service will include rationale as to why it is necessary, as well as highlighting what other options were considered.”
