'Victorian style' cutbacks to vital bus-links to the city centre would leave non-motorist residents and weekend revellers in and around Ide without a transport link to the city centre between 2:30pm in the afternoon and 8am the following day.
Following upset in Topsham over bus service cuts, Ide residents have been left shocked by similar Devon County Council plans to put the brake on bus services, and they're highlighting the fact they don't have an accompanying rail link.
The massive changes in bus timetables, the first since April 2011, will primarily affect the 360 service, the 361 service into and out of Ide, a village on the outskirts of Exeter. Altogether, when including more proposed cuts to bus services in the area like the X9, around 24 bus journeys a week could be scrapped; leaving a hole in the timetable big enough to drive a bus through.
The nearest bus-stop for a service into the city centre would be at the top of Dunsford Hill. This would mean that in order to catch a bus to the High Street after 2:30pm, Ide residents would have to walk for 17 minutes, crossing the walkbridge over the A30 and through partially unlit areas for nearly a mile – something that's unfeasible for elderly residents.
Barry Hookins, Chair of the Ide parish Council, said that residents have been 'horrified at the thought' of the cuts and agreed that different generations of Ide residents would be affected, saying: "The cuts will affect the elderly who don't drive and those who want to leave their car at home to go for a drink at The Quay in the evening."
The result of these harsh cuts to the late afternoon/evening Country Bus 360 service would provide Devon County Council with a £9000 annual saving, and the cuts to the 361 Dartline service would only see only a mere £1000 annual saving.
Cllr Alan Connett, district councillor said, "The proposed cuts in local bus services are avoidable. The county council says the 18:42 service is not well used but is maintaining work and shopping time journeys. However the cut of the afternoon service further isolates Ide, a village close to the city, and those without a car."
He added, "This has all the appearance of a gung-ho approach to chop bus services. In a mainly rural county like Devon that may well result in further isolation and loneliness and people will about how they can get to appointments at the hospital or elsewhere."
According to the proposal plan, the estimated number of passenger's journeys per year that are no longer catered by the 360 Bus, or alternative services, come in at nine-hundred and thirty six.
It wouldn't be just Ide affected either: Crossmead will also be losing their evening service, and Ting Valley will see their last service withdrawn if the proposals go ahead.
Devon County Council hasn't provided us any other justifications for the bus cuts, despite it being queried, beyond those in the Public Transport Review outline. The DCC document says: "To help meet £50 million budget reduction required by government spending cuts next year, we now face making savings of 1.7 million from our annual public transport budget. Devon County Council currently spends 5.376 million a year to support nearly 200 bus services. These would not run without this support."
It adds: "Proposals to meet these savings were approved by the County Council's Cabinet on Wednesday 14 January 2015."
The cuts to the 360 bus service would see the withdrawal of the 1500 Exeter to Ide; the 1524 Ide to Exeter and the 18:42 Bridford to Exeter journeys.
The 361 cuts would see the Withdrawal of 09:03 Hennock to Christow and 13:55 Christow - Newton Abbot Journeys - these connect with Service 360 for journeys to and from Exeter.
Former Ide resident, Steve Hallett, says: "this is a service reduction too far; these are Victorian-style cutbacks." When speaking with Steve he mentioned a suggestion he'd put to the County Council for an alteration to the route the Mortonhampstead 359 service takes in order to accommodate Ide and its fellow surrounding villages later into the evening, but said the idea was rejected because of service timing issues.
The Devon County Council transport review consultation period closes on Monday 28th April.
