Cuts to Staffordshire bus routes defended amid criticism

New cuts to bus routes have been defended by a Staffordshire operator amid criticism.

First Bus Potteries has announced several Sunday and evening services will be withdrawn from 2 July.

One Stoke-on-Trent MP called the move "extremely disappointing", and a brewery owner said he might have to shut a pub on Sundays due to the cuts.

But Ian Smith from the bus firm said: "In the areas affected by the changes, we have seen a decline in demand."

The cuts were about making First Bus Potteries' whole network successful in the long-term, he added.

More than a dozen routes are to be affected, including the loss of a Sunday service between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford as well as from the city to Leek.

Ian Bradford, who owns Lymestone Brewery which runs a pub in Stone, said the town was on the affected 101 Sunday route to Stafford.

The loss of the Sunday service "concerns me greatly", he said.

"Sunday is one of our biggest trading days of the week and if some of my staff and customers can't get to the pub, it's not really going to be worth opening," he explained.

Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Jo Gideon has written to the boss of First Bus Potteries demanding an explanation and called the cuts "extremely disappointing".

People in the area had "raised major concerns" as the changes could leave them "without access to the local buses they rely on", she added.

First Bus Potteries said it had received her letter and would reply in due course.

The company had to make sure it was covering the cost of operating each service and the routes earmarked for change did not bring in enough money to do that, Mr Smith said.

"Post Covid, we're still at least 20% down in terms of passenger numbers. Our costs, as everybody's have, are exceeding that," he added.

The firm said it would work with councils to bring in further fare offers over the next few weeks.

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