Calls have been made for residents in Cornwall to get in touch with their Cornwall Councillor if their children are experiencing difficulties in getting to and from college following a decision by Cornwall Council’s cabinet to award some routes to a company that does not take student bus passes.
In the Liberal Democrat/Independent Cabinet’s meeting of December 2019, the ruling councillors voted to split the contract previously held purely by First Kernow to incorporate another company, Plymouth Citybus, for some routes.
However this had led to issues where students across Cornwall, whose families pay for bus passes, not being able to access certain routes to and from Truro and Penwith college, because Plymouth Citybus does not accept the Truro and Penwith College bus passes, meaning students have to pay again or take longer routes to get to and from college.
The Conservative Group on Cornwall Council have issued a call for evidence from concerned parents to highlight the size of the problem.
Commenting, Conservative Group Leader Cllr Linda Taylor said:
“I am dismayed to see that Cornish college pupils from across our county appear to be encountering difficulties in getting to and from Truro and Penwith College because of what seems to be another bungled contract courtesy of this Lib Dem administration.”
“It’s not exactly rocket science to do your due diligence when putting together a new contract and it seems to us to be pretty obvious that they should have considered such a major compatibility issue with the largest Further Education provider in Cornwall when they did.”
“But this has not happened and we are seeing dozens of concerned parents come forward with shocking stories about extra costs or delays because their children cannot afford to pay the extra fares for City Bus and have to take longer alternative routes via First Kernow. This is simply unacceptable and we are asking affected families to get in touch with their Cornwall Councillor and demand action.”
Concerned parents who wish to contact their Cornwall Councillor about this issue can find out who their councillor is by inputting their postcode in www.writetothem.com
