Agenda item

In relation to Question 1 (page 9 of the agenda pack), Councillor Baggaley stated that he did not have a supplementary question but would continue to monitor the situation in relation to the bus service from Waverley to Brinsworth Academy.

In relation to Question 2 from Councillor Hussain (page 10 of the agenda pack), it was noted that works had been due to start on overhanging tree branches on 17 November but this had not yet happened. Nat Porter explained that the delay was due to the late leaf fall and works were now scheduled for the week commencing 1 December.

An additional two questions were submitted after the agenda had been published. These are detailed below:

Question 3 – From Councillor Clarke on behalf of a resident

A resident had recently experienced problems in getting home from Maltby to Dinnington using the X5 bus service.

The 17.25, X5 Maltby to Dinnington the last bus of the day between both villages, drove straight by them with “not in service” displayed. They had called the Travel Line who confirmed that they had not been informed that this service was not running at that time and First Bus had not updated any systems to suggest this either.

The resident logged a complaint with Travel Line for them to forward on to First.

On 6^th November, 2025, the resident had had to rely on that bus service again so had contacted First directly to ask if there were any plans to take the service off explaining what had happened previously to the customer service advisor.  When they looked they could see that the driver had not followed the correct route back to Dinnington.  After the resident told the customer service advisor that there had been many instances with this service not running correctly since it had started, they had been encouraged to make a complaint with him so that they could look into it.

The customer service advisor checked that there were no plans to take the 17.25 X5 off service that day, however, it did again displaying “not in service”.  

The resident had again called Travel Line, the customer service advisor apologised and another complaint submitted.  The resident was told that there were many negative complaints going in about the running of the X5, or lack of it. 

People relied on this service for work, care responsibilities and vulnerable people were being left stranded.

Response from First Bus

The X5 driving past a customer with “not in service” on the front was incorrect. The bus allocated to this journey (37522) developed a mechanical fault at Laughton Common on the outbound journey at 16.44.  The bus was not moved until 18.32, so could not have driven past anyone in Maltby. On checking the wider bus graph there were no other buses operating out of service.

The engineer heading to the defective bus took another bus out to allow the driver to recover as much of the service as possible but, as the bus was already 90 minutes late on the outbound journey and 25 minutes late on the inbound the journey, the bus ran direct to Fence to regain service.

Question 4 – From Councillor Clarke on behalf of  a resident

I am new to the area having recently moved to the new Thornberry Gardens estate with my partner.

I rely on public transport a lot of the time as I do not drive. I work for Sheffield City Council so often commute to Sheffield.

Are you aware of any plans for the 19/19a bus route to be extended to serve Thornberry Gardens? This would be beneficial to residents who, like me,  struggle with mobility or have young children, care for elderly folk etc.

Response from Stagecoach East Midlands

We work closely with our local authority partners to monitor opportunities for the expansion of local bus services to serve new residential areas across our operating region. We have been particularly successful with this work within the Nottinghamshire Enhanced Bus Partnership where we have introduced several new routes and timetables with Section 106 developer funding secured by Local Authority Transport Officers; the latest was an extension of Services 21 and 25 to serve a new residential estate at Harworth near to the South Yorkshire border.

Over the years, traffic congestion along the Service 19/19a routes had increased, especially during the peak hours. Consequently, there was no slack in the current schedule to enable a route extension to serve Thornberry Gardens, so additional bus and driver resources would be needed to expand the coverage.  It was not sure if there was any Section 106 funding linked to the development for a new bus service. Also, the location and layout of the estate presented some challenges in devising a suitable bus service format.

For the above reasons, there were no plans at the present time to include Thornberry Gardens in Service 19/19a but would explore any options with SYMCA transport officers.