Towns and villages hit by cuts to bus services have called for a key Southern Vectis seasonal route to be opened up to Island residents using concessionary passes.
At present the Coaster summer service, which runs from Ryde to Alum Bay and Yarmouth, via Ventnor and the Military Road, is designated as a tourist service, which exempts it from the England National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS).
Now 6 South and West Wight local councils – Chale, Chillerton and Gatcombe, Freshwater, Niton and Whitwell, Totland and Ventnor – have joined forces and written to the Isle of Wight Council, which administers the scheme, asking for the exemption to be withdrawn. They say the extra services would help to offset problems in the villages caused by the reduction in services on Routes 6 and 12.
A spokesperson for the collective said:
“The Coaster is now de facto an important part of the local bus network for a large part of the route, regardless of its original purpose.
“Tourist routes are generally regarded as not being “connected” to the regular network. This may be true in the case of, say, the Downs Breezer, but is demonstrably not true in the case of the Coaster, which connects South Wight with West Wight in a way which no other Southern Vectis bus does. In the 70s and 80s, Southern Vectis ran a very similar route, as a regular hourly service, first as Route 26 and later Route 46. It was a seasonal (summer) service but with a normal fare structure and ticket availability. Thus there is historical precedent.”
Niton parish councillor Jonathan Young added:
“Southern Vectis’s own website advertises the Coaster as an asset for those lucky enough to live on the Island.
Article continues below this advertisement “Concessionary travel is a policy area devolved to the Isle of Wight Council, and, as we understand it, it’s for the Council to decide which services are eligible. Residents see these buses going past their door and they really don’t understand why they have to wait for a different one.
“I can’t see why the IWC would not support local communities by doing as we ask.”
