DOREEN is fighting to protect the 553 bus service reintroduced in High Heaton and Cochrane Park following a long campaign by your Lib Dem FOCUS Team – the former number 3 service from Regent Centre to Walker via the Freeman Hospital and Benfield Road. The 18/32 “shopper” on Newton Road & Heaton Road to Shields Road may also be at risk.
The 553 daytime service links High Heaton and Cochrane Park with Gosforth and the East End and is popular with residents who need to travel to work, school, or hospital. However, the Labour-run North East Combined Authority is expected to slash the bus subsidy for non-commercial services this year – with “secondary” services like the 553 likely to face significant reductions or even scrapped entirely. This is due to the authority having wasted £2.6 million on their controversial failed bus “Quality Contracts Scheme”. The cuts now expected to be made are not due to Government but due to Labour’s mismanagement.
DOREEN says “Your local Lib Dem FOCUS Team councillors led local efforts to reinstate this bus service. Labour’s cuts to subsidised bus services this year threaten the continuation of this route. It’s striking Labour have nothing to say on public transport locally.”
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.