As part of her continuing campaign to restore the Potters Barnet to Barnet section of the 84 bus, Theresa Villiers MP this week met representatives of Sullivan Buses and Hertfordshire County Council.
Dean Sullivan of Sullivan’s Buses said the policies from the Mayor of London on ULEZ and other issues are making it much harder to run ‘cross-border’ services into London from towns outside the capital. He explained that TfL fund the upgrade of buses running their services to comply with new emissions rules, but do not give that support to operators from outside London.
Speaking after the meeting, Theresa said “It was very helpful to hear directly from Dean on the difficulties bus operators are having making local routes viable to run. It is worrying that decisions by the Mayor are making cross-border services even more difficult to operate. I will be raising these matters with him. He needs to recognise that people living on the edge of London need these cross-border services.”
“We also discussed various compromise ideas including extending the current 383 route to Potters Bar station. This is another option I shall put to the Mayor and TfL.”
On the same day as her discussion with Dean Sullivan, Theresa spoke to officers from Hertfordshire County Council, Simon Airies and Matt Lales.
“It is frustrating that people who valued the previous 84 route are still waiting for a solution to bring back the service. This was a constructive meeting in which I reiterated how important the 84 is to my constituents, but there is still no prospect of funding from Herts CC to bring back the Potters Bar to Barnet element of the route.”
“I will continue to work for a solution to restore the services my constituents want.”
Earlier this month, Theresa attended a protest at the bus stop outside the Spires in Chipping Barnet organised by local residents campaigning to save the 84. She also raised the issues in Parliament highlighting how wrong it is for the Mayor to expand the ULEZ at the same time as bus services like the 84 are being withdrawn in Barnet.
