Preston Bus representative to meet members of City Council over axed service

Although Preston City Council is not the authority with jurisdiction over transport, councillors are fighting to help find a solution for round 3,500 residents left without a bus connection.

Rotala, which is behind Preston Bus, cut down the route for bus number 14 from Holme Slack to Longsands in September for commercial reasons.

Earlier this month Lancashire County Council ruled out proposals put forward by Preston Bus for a 22-seater shuttle to “plug a gap in the network” with officers saying it would be too costly.

As campaigners vow to fight on to bring back a service for their area, a Preston Bus representative has been invited to a meeting with PCC’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee which takes place on Friday.

Chairman of the committee, coun Neil Cartwright said: “We want to have a clearer understanding of why Preston Bus feel it’s necessary to withdraw the service.

“We want to know if there are any alternatives to be explored and we are also conscious that the whole of the North of Preston is changing dramatically and the population is changing so we want to know how they going to deal with the changes.”

Although coun Cartwright said he did not anticipate a solution as a result of the interview he said it was important that councillors on the city authority had a good understanding of the issues involved in providing the bus service.

He added: “We want to be informed because in many respects city councillors are the first port of call of residents.”