Campaigners wanting better bus timetable information are staging a protest in Bakewell. Better Buses Derbyshire is calling for integrated public transport timetables (bus and rail) to be produced in hard copy and web versions for bus users in Derbyshire, making their feelings known on Saturday (April 6) from 10am.
Currently, the group claims that there are no paper timetables other than a few produced by individual bus operators, and most of the bus stops carry no information at all.
The group plans to hold the protest in Rutland Square at 10am. Members also plan to carry out surveys of passers-by in the town centre to find out how people travelled to Bakewell, whether they had considered using the bus and what is stopping them from using the bus more.
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Campaigner Chrissy Grocott, who has produced and printed limited numbers of public transport hub map leaflets to distribute to the public said: “How are people expected to use the buses when there is so little information available about where the buses go to, at what times and how they connect to trains?
"Not everyone has smart phones and it’s hard to get a signal in many rural areas. Derbyshire County Council and the bus operators need to work together to produce comprehensive, printed timetables covering the whole of Derbyshire, as they used to do before the pandemic. In other places like the Lake District, people can easily find attractive, printed copies of timetables. Why can’t we do this in Derbyshire?"
A bus users group is being set up in Bakewell, according to local resident Georgina Blair, who said: "This will give local people more of a voice and the county council and bus operators will listen to what bus passengers want"
As well as getting printed timetables, the group also wants to see more information at bus stops. The group says that more than 4,000 bus stops in Derbyshire carry no information at all, and the council’s target is to increase the amount of display cases by only 200 by 2029-2030.
According to the group, the Government's 2021 strategy Bus Back Better states that bus stops should be used as free advertising and carry full information and travel maps.
Chrissy Grocott said that she unsuccessfully asked Derbyshire County Council (DCC) to initiate a scheme to Adopt a bus stop, which would enable local people and parish councils to update bus stop information as and when necessary.
Since then she has made timetable displays from milk cartons, as seen in the photo above. She has estimated it would cost only a few thousand pounds per parish council, and less than £300,000 for the whole county to have cases to put timetables in at bus stops.
Better Buses Derbyshire is a coalition of individuals and organisations campaigning for better buses, and are part of a national Better Buses campaign.
A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council: "Thank you to Ms Grocott for highlighting this important issue, and for everything she is doing to support the Bus Service Improvement Plan and raising awareness of local bus services.
"We have been discussing bus stop and timetable information with Ms Grocott and we are working with bus operators on this too, as they also own many timetable cases. The county council have over 1800 timetable cases and there are now over 300 real time information signs across the county. We are working to increase these under the £47 million government-funded BSIP programme. We’re happy to work with local councils where they want to provide these.
"Alongside increasing information at bus stops, we’re also working to improve access to ‘on the go’ timetables, through the use of technology such as QR codes, developing the existing website and a new app."
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