Wokingham

At its meeting on Thursday November 30, Wokingham District Council’s decision-making executive will look to combine some school services and local bus routes to offer the best service possible with the resource available.

Executive member for highways and transport Cllr Anthony Pollock said: “In recent months, the council has been disappointed to learn of Thames Travel and First Beeline’s intentions to withdraw commercial bus services that run in the Wokingham district. These are commercial decisions over which the council has no influence.

“The council has therefore been looking very closely at what services it can provide to assist local residents, whilst not expecting taxpayers to support less viable routes through increased subsidies. This has involved a thorough review of subsidised services across the district in order to look at where we can sensibly combine some routes to provide a better overall service.”

Should the 144 and 193 bus services be withdrawn altogether, the southern end of the district (Shinfield, Arborfield, Finchampstead, Barkham, Wokingham and Wokingham Without) would be left without any public bus services. In reviewing these services, the council identified that they currently carried few passengers, but attracted a substantial subsidy from council funds. The council is therefore proposing to combine the services to make them viable.

The proposed changes include combining the 144 and 193 services with the 244 and 219 school routes and the Wokingham town shuttle bus (known as the Tesco shopping bus).

This would result in an improved 144 service running every 30 minutes (7am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday) between Arborfield and Reading via Shinfield. There would also continue to be a service between Arborfield and Wokingham once an hour. The route will also be amended to include the 219 school service to Ryeish Green School.*

Under the proposals the 193 service is set to be renamed the ‘Wokingham Link’ and would be re-routed to include the Wokingham town shuttle bus and the 244 school service from Shinfield via Arborfield, California Crossroads, Barkham, Holt School, Emmbrook School and Forest School.

Benefits from the proposed changes include:
· Earlier start times from Wokingham (7.16am), in response to requests from residents
· New late evening service on Saturdays until past midnight
· Increased running hours for the Wokingham town shuttle service, and a new shopping service for the Rances Lane area.

Cllr Pollock said: “We always face very difficult decisions when looking at the district’s bus services. When people don’t make use of the services on offer, private companies don’t find them viable to run. The council doesn’t want to place an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer, so we have to look very carefully where we put our limited resources.

“I hope that, should these proposals get the green light, our residents will benefit from continued service without the threat of withdrawal from bus companies or the burden of ever increasing subsidies for these services.”

Wokingham District Council