(28 Jul 2015, 11:22 am)Charles41 wrote United (now Arriva) used to run a service in the Upper Coquet valley to Alwinton. I believe this passed to Rothbury motors and then Howard Snaith. Snaith pulled out of the service a few years ago due to very low passenger numbers. The Post Bus also used to run to Alwinton but this service was withdrawn a long time ago.
United used to have a small depot/bus station in Rothbury. There is now a housing estate and a vetinary surgeon's office on the site. You can see it just off the main street. Rothbury Motors garage near the Queens Head is now a gift shop and the yard has been developed for housing.
In the case of the pub at Slaley, the cooperative sold shares to its members and thus obtained finance to purchase and operate the pub. Perhaps this is an alternative for Spirit. It could in theory allow Steve to continue to be involved in managing any successor company and provide him with a salary for doing so.
Charles
Community owned ventures are a nice idea in theory, but in practise, they are still exposed to the same market forces (or regulative constraints) which face any business. While Steve Hurst may be able to use his operators licence and draw a salary in an any community-driven alternative to Spirit Buses, the business still needs to somehow pay its way. So, as I said in previous post, unless Couquetdale is populated by drivers and fitters willing to donate their time and energy into the project, the same overheads will remain and the business will be grounded unless the project is scaled back to the bare minimum - e.g. a small minibus service operating a couple of times a week (or at a push - once a day) between, say, Thropton, Rothbury and Alnwick with a revised, increased frequency during the summer months when tourists may be persuaded to use the service.
