Work with Norfolk County Council to ensure bus operator Stagecoach reconsider their proposal to withdraw from the number 46 bus route between March, Wisbech and Kings Lynn from 28th April 2018.
We believe that the 46 bus route provides an essential public service to many local residents especially those living in the villages along the route. If a through service between March and Kings Lynn ceases, considerable inconvenience and even hardship will be caused to the many residents who rely on this service to access schools, work and hospitals.
Should Stagecoach fail to reconsider their operation of this route we further ask the Council to work with Norfolk County Council to ensure that another provider is found to operate the complete route.
This petition currently has 98 signatures in total.
| Petition Signatories |
| Jayne Abrams |
| Mark Avery |
| R B |
| Kathleen Barker |
| anne bird |
| carol boyle |
| ANITA BROWN |
| H C |
| Helena Chudziak |
| Virginia Cllr Bucknor |
This petition has been reviewed and the following response has been offered:
Thank you for submitting the petition. I can inform you that officers in the Passenger Transport team have already undertaken some of the actions you have requested.
The position is that Stagecoach are unable to operate the through route as previously on service 46 as they are closing their depot at King’s Lynn, which means that any remaining services have to operate out of either their Peterborough or March depots. The distance is too far to make it viable to operate from Peterborough, and the March depot is quite small which limits the number of services they can provide. County Council Officers did speak to them when they first announced they were withdrawing the service, but unfortunately they were clear that it would not be commercially viable for them to continue.
Norfolk County Council have been negotiating with a company called Lynx to provide a service between Wisbech and Kings Lynn, which is now in place. Before sending out a tender for the replacement service between March and Wisbech Lynx were contacted to see if they could operate their new service from March rather than Wisbech. Unfortunately they do not have enough vehicles or drivers for the extra resource required and therefore were unable to help.
Lynx were also sent a copy of the tender specification, but they declined to put in a bid. The Council only had one operator bid for the contract, which was Stagecoach, and we therefore had to accept their bid or there would have been no service provided at all. The Council appreciates that the service is at a lower level than previously and in the future officers will continue to talk to Lynx to see if their situation changes and they become in a position to provide a through link.
With the number of signatures collected you would be able to present your Petition for three minutes to the Council's Economy and Environment Committee on 24th May but as there will not be a relevant report, they can only ask officers to provide you with a written response.
Do you still wish to present the petition?
| Date | User | Description | Status |
| 23/03/2018 07:39 | Brian Kendrick | Petition Signed: Brian Kendrick | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 07:39 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Mandy Ives | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 07:38 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Virginia Cllr Bucknor | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 07:31 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: R B | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 07:20 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Helena Chudziak | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 07:13 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Andrea Love | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 06:27 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Helen Sheppard | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 03:50 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: andy murphy | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2018 02:32 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Irene Henson | Petition Active |
| 22/03/2018 17:56 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Patricia Manning | Petition Active |