Suspended service
A national bus company that got in ahead of a local rival was yesterday told it had to suspend a service connecting Fernwood with Newark and Balderton.
The Traffic Commissioner said the Stagecoach hail-and-ride service, the Fernwood Fastline 3A, could run until Monday.
That is when Marshalls of Sutton-on-Trent Ltd will launch its Fernwood Flyer.
The rival services were due to go head to head with the Stagecoach timetable running three minutes ahead of the one planned by Marshalls.
Marshalls gave the Traffic Commissioner the statutory 56 days notice that it intended to start its service.
Stagecoach was able to start before them when its registration of a similar service was accepted at short notice because of an administration error by the Traffic Commissioner.
A spokesman for the Traffic Commissioner said: “Due to further information being received the short notice has been cancelled and Stagecoach’s variation will come into effect on June 12.
“So as not to disrupt the travelling public the Traffic Commissioner will allow Stagecoach to continue to run the service over the weekend, until the Marshalls service commences on Monday.”
The managing director of Marshalls, Mr John Marshall, said: “Obviously the Traffic Commissioner made a mistake and should not have accepted the short notice registration. This is virtually unprecedented.
“It is good news that is in the interests of the travelling public. We will be there at 7.23am on Monday.”
Mr Marshall plans to ride on the bus on its first morning in service. He said bus companies could give a shorter notice period for a new or changed service if there were special circumstances such as road closures or if it involved a school journey.
“The most distressing thing is that Stagecoach applied for less than 56 days on the grounds of unforeseen circumstances,” said Mr Marshall.
“Those circumstances were the fact we were about to run it.”
Mr Marshall wrote to the Traffic Commissioner objecting to Stagecoach’s service on April 28 and again last week, asking why it was granted, but had not yet received a reply.
The Stagecoach service started last week.
Speaking to the Advertiser on Tuesday, Mr Dave Skepper, the commercial director for Stagecoach East Midlands, said: “We did what every bus company needs to do we applied to the Traffic Commissioner to run a service and were granted a date.
“It is proving to be successful and we are steadily carrying more and more passengers. People seem to be pleased with what we are doing.
“We started to run it first and if Marshalls registers a service and starts after us that is up to them.”
Mr Skepper was not available to comment on the latest development as the Advertiser went to press yesterday.
Campaigners calling for a bus service for Fernwood are concerned that if there are rival services both could be lost because they may not be financially viable.
The Nottinghamshire county councillors for Fernwood, Mrs Sue Saddington and Mr Keith Walker, opened talks with Mr Marshall in January over a bus service for Fernwood.
There were discussions over timings and where the service would stop.
Mrs Ellen Belton (66) of Goldstraw Lane, Fernwood, has used the Stagecoach service several times to go to Sainsbury’s and the doctor’s surgery in Balderton as well as Newark town centre.
Mrs Belton said she could shelter in her doorway and go outside to flag down a bus as it arrived.
“I really do think it is the best thing since sliced bread,” she said. “It is a godsend for families and people like me who do not have their own transport.
“I do not think there is demand for two services and it would be horrendous if they both stopped.”
Mr Robert McKinnon (48) of Plum Way, Fernwood, said: “I am sure there is not demand for two services.
“I know what will happen. We will be left with no bus service.”
Mrs Lydia Hurst, a Balderton parish councillor and the chairman of the Friends of Balderton Surgery, wrote to the Traffic Commissioner after hearing there would be two bus companies serving the route.
She was concerned that both would eventually stop and residents would lose out.
The Marshalls service is an extension of the current number 33 service and will travel between Newark Bus Station, Newark Hospital, the Eton Avenue shops, Cherry Holt, Hawton Lane, Rowan Way, Manners Road and Fernwood.
It will run hourly from Monday to Saturday with three stops on Dale Way, Fernwood and two stops on Goldstraw Lane. It costs £1.40 single and £2.40 return between Newark and Fernwood.
Stagecoach’s Fernwood Fastline 3A runs Monday to Saturday from Newark Bus Station to Albert Street, Newark Hospital, Eton Avenue shops, Gill House, Hawton Lane, Turks Head, Lacey Green and Fernwood.
The standard charge on the service is £1.40 single and £2.30 return.
