The top four initiatives that drivers in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire say would get them onto public transport are out of the direct control of the Greater Cambridge Partnership and rely on the actions of Cambridgeshire’s two top commercial bus companies that have cut services in recent months.

In response to its Big Conversation to identify initiatives to get people to switch from cars to buses respondents said their top four were:  new public transport routes, more reliable services, cheaper fares, more frequent services and free parking at park and ride sites.

Its only the last initiative GCP is delivering, by part-subsidizing the running costs of the five Cambridge Park and Ride sites in return for free parking, being reintroduced this April by the county council after Conservatives previously voted in a £1 parking charge.

For the other top four initiatives we  are in the hands of Stagecoach and Tower Transit who together run over 95% of bus services in the county on a commercial basis for profit.  Without their commitment to the initiatives there can be no hope to get people out of their cars.

Yet over the past years both companies have made cut after cut in local services that people rely on for work, shopping and leisure.

The Mayor has been given powers to sort them out but having been in post nine months so far has shown little willingness to take action to deliver us a comprehensive and fair fares network that works for us and not the bus company shareholders.