Konectbus Service Withdrawals

In the last day or so Konectbus has published information on their website regarding some service withdrawals affecting rural areas and most of it is repeated below

The X88 in Southwold on 2nd November 2017
when Anglianbus used to operate it

The Mondays to Saturday daytime buses on the 87/88 routes between Bungay and Norwich are to run for the last time on Friday 1st March. Evening and Sunday buses operated for Norfolk County Council will continue until Sunday 31st March.

This means that there will be no through buses between Halesworth and Norwich although Konect will still be operating the Southwold to Bungay via Halesworth route during March. Norwich bound passengers will need to change buses to a First Norfolk & Suffolk service in Bungay.

Norfolk County Council contracts for the evening and Sunday buses, and with Suffolk County Council for buses between Halesworth and Southwold, are due to end on Sunday 31st March. Konectbus will also be withdrawing buses between Halesworth and Bungay from the same date and there are currently no details available of any new contracts that county councils will be awarding.

The 90 service provided by Anglianbus on the same day

Konectbus also intend to cease operating route 272 between Southwold and Bungay High School at the end of the spring term on 5th April and route 90 between Halesworth, Beccles and Southwold after operation on Saturday 20th April. These routes are subsidised by Suffolk County Council and presumably a replacement operator will be found.

Konectbus states on their website that 'The reason that we are withdrawing these routes is that they continue to run at a loss. We have sustained losses of several million pounds in our Beccles based operation in the last few years. This has been because of the loss of contracts to other companies, the decline in the rural bus market and high operating costs and poor reliability which we have been unable to address at a small operation that is remote from our main business. We have also suffered from direct competition from First bus, whom most users now seem to prefer. We hope that First will have the good grace to step in and provide the extra facilities such as Sunday buses and the through route to Halesworth that we have hitherto provided, and not just focus on the profitable sections of route in Bungay and Poringland.'

Roy