Cllr CHRIS CLARANCE, of Shaldon, writes:

Currently there is a number 2 bus service that Stagecoach runs along the main Teignmouth Newton road, plus rather strangely the 185 bus service doing the same thing run by Country Bus, each company vying for business.

The 184 service, run for the last 12 months, by Country Bus without subsidy, is due to be withdrawn on the 10th April, indeed I have written to them to ask them to reconsider this decision. The 184 service runs five times a day in both directions doing the loop into the village, thus being most useful to residents of Bishopsteignton, wanting to get to both Teignmouth and Newton Abbot.

The 184 service was subsidised from May 2004 to May 2010 by DCC. During that final last year the subsidy was £32,854. So Country Bus have tried running it commercially, without subsidy and now want to discontinue the service.

However, DCC policy is not to try and leave Bishopsteignton without a service in the village. As the service wasn't subsidised this last year, therefore this service is actually not part of the cuts we hear about of £1.37 million to the bus services.

DCC are therefore going to investigate a potential tendered replacement for the 184 service which hopefully, whoever is successful at tender, will commence on the 11th April.

It is suggested to me that several bus companies will be interested, thus we might be lucky in not having to pay the amount of subsidy that we did in the past. DCC, in tendering this service out, will be looking at combining it with the number 74 service, where the position regarding no subsidy in the past year, as with the 184 service was the same, thus the 74 service, Willows, Kingskerswell, Newton Abbot would make a full day for this one combined bus.

So the current position is far from lost, I therefore shall be pressing, by lobbying for no reduced 184 service for Bishopsteignton, albeit combined with the 74 service.

I wrote directly to Country Bus dated 1st Feb 2011, asking the proprietor of Country Bus to reconsider retaining the 184 bus service,reports now indicate Country Bus have done a complete u turn and have agreed to my request to continue running this service,not going to the Willows,but going to Trago Mills instead. Should this be confirmed, which I hope it will be to me, I see this as excellent news for the people of Bishopsteignton and council tax payers in general as no subsidy from DCC will be involved to provide this future service.