(13 Sep 2021, 6:52 am)Storx wrote Honestly I don't disagree with putting social needs against each other tbh. Don't disagree about minimum bus services either and that it should be ran outside of the council's control maybe like the rail to give a decent service for everyone. But sadly a homeless person will always get priority as it's a burden on other services. It's a mess tbh and sadly some places are getting the burden more than others. Councils badly need more money, maybe could be a thing for the Tories to prove their 'levelling up' since they've got a Hartlepool MP now.
Mind I can't comment on Stafford, it's quite a well off county aswell tbf bar Stafford itself which is a mixed bag. Rural though but you'll always have some bad apples.
Btw one thing that can actually work is to have parish councillors or another level below the main council like Northumberland for most the stuff you mentioned above as they're usually more proactive and care about their local issues. Especially with stuff like timetables as our parish council is constantly getting on about it. I believe they partially subsidise one bus service, with Northumberland Council taking a bit and Arriva aswell.
The only negative thing I could say about a transport body is GCT in Nexus land so even then you still have problems and let's be honest Nexus don't give a toss either.
Transport authorities aren't perfect, as you say Nexus' ability to hold GCT to account for their contract failings isn't ideal. But at least it's something, so many non-PTE areas have zero supported services and zero timetable information provision.
Bus services in Stafford raises another worrying point in deregulated bus market. Arriva had a monopoly on the Stafford & Cannock network, quite similar to Stagecoach with Hartlepool. Despite not having any competition they still couldn't make the depot work and sold the operations to D&G bus, who quickly offloaded the Stafford network to smaller independent Select Bus of Penkridge. Clearly the town isn't attractive bus territory - what happens if Select can't make it work with their low-cost operation and fleet of elderly buses? Does a borough of 120'000 people simply have to go without a local bus network?