Bus campaigners hopeful after council meeting

Stagecoach has reduced the frequency of its Tunbridge Wells to Eastbourne service by 30 minutes

Campaigners fighting changes to a bus service linking Kent and East Sussex believe they have made progress after a meeting with local councillors.

In March operator Stagecoach cut the frequency of the 51 service between Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne from half-hourly to hourly.

On 21 September it is due to become once every 75 minutes, in a move the company said was vital to help drivers remain punctual in heavy traffic.

On Monday campaigners met with East Sussex County Council and Erin Wigham, who regularly uses the route, said she felt "hopeful".

She told BBC Radio Sussex: "All the councillors said this is not the end of the journey, but the beginning.

"What the council have said about working alongside is hopeful. Things are moving forward, this is the first step towards change and a better bus service.

"Even if it's financially impossible for the half-hourly service to be restored, I think by the council working alongside Stagecoach, that is going to, hopefully, inspire some change."

'Traffic congestion'

A spokesman for Stagecoach said: "Punctuality and reliability are crucial to us.

"The leading cause of delays and cancellations across our Eastbourne network is traffic congestion.

"Our services are simply not able to keep to time with the level of congestion we experience.

"From 21 September we are increasing journey times to some services and increasing resources on others across the network to make sure our buses can keep to time, in a sustainable way.

"For service 51, we are adjusting journey times to improve reliability while maintaining essential peak-time connections."

'Substantial subsidy'

An East Sussex County Council spokesperson said: "The 51 bus service is provided on a commercial basis by Stagecoach. The operator increased the frequency to half-hourly in 2010, but low passenger numbers mean the service is now running at a significant loss.

"To revert to a half-hourly service would require a substantial annual subsidy, which could not be covered by East Sussex's Bus Services Improvement Plan funding allocation from Government.

"We have funded replacement journeys for school children travelling between Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells.

"It is likely we will require more external funding in the future to continue to support a growing number of bus services which operators decide they can no longer provide on a commercial basis."