Tonight at 7.30pm, South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and Labour council candidate Lisa Markham will be attending a public meeting at St. Gabriel’s Church, Ecclesall, to address anger from residents over cuts to bus services.
The meeting is being held to ‘help put community’s voices back at the centre of plans to fix South Yorkshire’s buses’.
Following the deregulation and bus cuts in 2022, the number 10 circular bus is one of a third of bus services that have been taken off and caused a massive uproar from residents. The bus originally went from Manor Top and ended back at Manor Top via Arbourthorne, Heeley, Nether Edge, Endcliffe, Broomhill, Upperthorpe, Sheffield city centre.
Janis Leslie, resident in Ecclesall, said: “They have taken it off and it has caused a huge inconvenience to hundreds of people because this is a hilly city.”
She said: “They’re telling people to get on their bike or walk. There is no way I could walk up those hills with shopping bags and they just don’t seem to realise that.”
The meeting provides an opportunity for residents of Ecclesall to ask questions regarding routes and bus provisions and discuss possible resolutions to the issue by providing affordable, reliable and accessible services and holding the Government and bus companies to account.
The bus cuts have not only caused a major strain on accessibility, but also a strain on money for residents in the area to buy cars or use more expensive modes of transport, potentially driving residents out of their homes.
Mrs. Leslie said: “I’ve got to go to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital tomorrow. I’m going to have to get a taxi because there’s no bus and nowhere to park. I know a lot of people personally who use those buses but it’s the same for all of us; we just can’t get anywhere without our cars and if you take the car anywhere you can’t park and if the red lines come in I fear I might have to move house.”
The area is home to many elderly members of the community in refurbished elderly homes who have essentially been ‘trapped because of the complete lack of buses’.
Another member of the community who was hoping to attend the meeting tonight will not be able to as the bus service in her area ends at 8pm, with only four bus services in the city running past 10pm.
Many residents are hoping the Government and bus companies will reinstate some bus services, with an emphasis on the circular routes such as the number 10 bus due to the hilly nature of the city making certain areas inaccessible.
