The Need For More Frequent Buses

Over August, while a lot of people went on holiday, Lincolnshire County Council launched a survey about the bus services in Lincolnshire. That had a deadline for people to fill it in of 30th August.

The survey asks about people's views on the local bus services and what can be done to improve them.

This is looking at updated "post Covid" data, but of course the glaring flaw in that is we're not post-Covid. In spite of the lifting of restrictions and mask mandates, infections remain stubbornly high and have been rising nationally in recent weeks, and many people aren't taking part in the usual range of activities that they would normally have done. This is either because they are shielding or reluctant to go out, or because certain activities and events aren't quite as available as before.

So bus use isn't quite at what might be considered normal levels, and this means our views about buses are going to be a bit skewed because they've seen less use recently.

Bus petition

Bus availability has been an issue in and around Louth for a long time. So Lewis Mass started a petition to Stagecoach asking for a more frequent travel service. This is especially acute for people who would like to use the bus to get to work. Earlier start times and later returns would be especially useful for anyone who relies on buses, so that getting to work in larger towns is possible. This would open up a lot more opportunities for work, study, and culture, for people in Louth.

Click here to sign the petition for more frequent buses.

Bus station refurbishment

Louth bus station had a refurbishment, starting in July, with a new coat of blue paint on the fixtures, and a few more benches added to it. It now looks fresh and more attractive.

However, while it's important to have a nice bus station to wait at, it's far more fundamental to have frequent buses so that the bus service is more usable.

The lack of bus availability at evenings, weekends, and on Sundays from Louth to Lincoln or Grimsby and back is stopping a lot of people getting jobs in those towns. It also prevents people from Louth accessing cultural activities in the rest of the county. We need to adopt the "every hour, every village" ethos that the Germans use so that local transport use increases.

Climate change

Increasing bus use is one way we can reduce emissions from transport, so it should be prioritised. It's in the news this week because of Hurricane Ida in the USA, because of the Extinction Rebellion protests in London, and because of wildfires in California, Greece, Turkey, Bolivia, Siberia, Algeria, Italy, and Canada. With carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continuing to rise, climate change isn't likely to come off the agenda any time soon.