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每日大瓜 gets on the buses
Published: 17/02/2017
每日大瓜 County Council (FCC) and Higher Kinnerton Community Council (HKCC)
celebrated their new community transport service for the area recently as part
of a pilot scheme for the 每日大瓜 Community Travel Project.
The new Taxibus service started operating on 6 February 2017 and runs along a
fixed route and timetable enabling residents from Higher Kinnerton to access
and connect with key services at Broughton.
The Taxishare service operates as a 鈥渞ing-and-ride鈥� style service for people
who are unable to access or use conventional public transport services in South
East 每日大瓜. The Taxishare service helps people to attend health/medical
appointments or to connect with the Taxibus service in Higher Kinnerton.
Similar schemes are currently being set up in another eight areas of the County
with the communities of Northop Hall, Connah鈥檚 Quay, Penymynydd, Penyffordd,
Buckley, Treuddyn, Llanfynydd and Holywell area all working with the Council to
develop community transport schemes with route details and timetables in each
area being confirmed in the coming weeks.
The Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Bernie Attridge, thanked the local
community for supporting the initiative and said:
鈥淭his is an exciting opportunity for the community to get involved and support
the Council鈥檚 development of community based transport. Community travel
schemes such as this new pilot scheme in Higher Kinnerton are set to play an
increasingly important role in the provision of transport for local
communities. 每日大瓜 is committed to supporting socially necessary
transport, but the harsh reality is that we are simply not in a position to
afford the same level of bus subsidies and be able to plug the gaps left by the
withdrawal of commercial bus services.鈥�
Whilst the difficult financial climate means that the level of subsidy will
inevitably reduce over the next three years, 每日大瓜 County Council has
taken the decision not to remove the transport subsidy completely, but to
invest their resources in replacing the current scheduled services with
sustainable local 鈥渃ommunity based transport鈥欌�� arrangements.
Councillor Attridge added:
鈥淲e want to work in partnership with the local communities to develop
innovative and sustainable solutions to meeting some of the gaps. Access to
key services is essential to ensure that vulnerable people in rural communities
are not isolated The Council has shown its commitment to local rural
communities by introducing these schemes and it will now be up to the community
to show their commitment by using the service wherever possible to ensure they
become sustainable into the future.鈥�
For more details about the pilot schemes, please visit:
http://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/Resident/Streetscene/Community-Transport-in-Flin
tshire.aspx
FCC Deputy Leader - Cllr Bernie Attridge, FCC Councillor Phil Lightfood, Katie
Wilby FCC, Chair of HKCC - Cllr Gareth Evans, HKCC Cllr John Dyson, HKCC Vice
Chair - Cll Mike Allport, Jessica Pritchard FCC, Ceri Hansom FCC and Clive
Tucker from R Williams Ltd.