‘Buses are too old for town’

In a report to tonight's economic scrutiny committee meeting, head of planning Steve Kearney said the council had made improvements to transport infrastructure, but felt bus companies were not meeting its standards in return.

Mr Kearney said the main problem was the age of the buses which are run by Arriva, which runs many of Southend's bus services.

He said: "The council has an expectation bus operators should im-prove vehicle standards, service reliability and customer service standards. There is a perception the operators have not fully met the council's expectations.

"We would like to see some new vehicles in operation in the town. Many of them are more than 20 years old.

"Arriva did introduce some new buses a few years ago, but then they were moved to another area as the company said they were not getting enough passengers to justify their use."

Mr Kearney said a solution might be agreeing on service frequency, vehicle quality and fare levels before signing contracts with bus companies.

He said: "There is a risk these things may be resisted by operators and seen as interference in the running of their businesses.

"Members may feel there is a need for this to be made a compulsory part of any agreement."

Malcolm Spalding, Arriva Southern Coun-ties commercial manager, defended the quality of his company's service.

He said: "The buses used in Southend vary in size and age, and reflect the fact that buses have a working life over over 15 years.

"All buses are maintained to the same high standard, so it is not so much the age but the facilities offered by the design of the buses, such as whether or not they are of the low floor type, which is important.

"Currently, over a quarter of the buses are of the low-floor type and, during the autumn, this number will rise to over a third when services 13 and 29 become low floor buses."

Service 13 runs from Southend Bus Station to Garon Park, while service 29 runs from the bus station to Belfairs, via the Woodcutters Arms.