£10m Transport hub not being used by buses

Bus operators have been criticised for not using a new multi-million pound transport hub in west Cornwall.

by Richard Whitehouse, Local Democracy Reporter St Erth ‘Multi Modal Hub’ from the air

The St Erth Multi Modal Hub has received more than £5.4million in EU funding along with £1.89m from Cornwall Council and £3.2m from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership and recently opened after more than 18 months of work.

With two new car parks with 516 parking spaces and charging points for electric vehicles at the station, the scheme, which has been developed in partnership with Network Rail, GWR and Highways England, provides a park and ride for both mainline trains and the branch line service to St Ives.

It only officially opened to the public on Saturday 1st June.

However buses are not using the hub and are instead continuing to pick up passengers along the busy A30 which locals say is dangerous and is causing congestion.

John Matthews said it was “ludicrous” that the hub was not being used by buses.

“They have done a great job in putting in the hub, but it is supposed to be a transport hub but Kernow First are refusing to use it.

“All the temporary bus stops have been removed but they are continuing to stop along the road. Cornwall Council highways said that they should be using the hub but I have been told by Kernow First drivers that they are not using it as it will add four minutes to their journey time.

“What annoys me and those of us who live here is that we had to put up with 18 months of traffic due to the works and now Kernow First are making it worse as everytime they stop it halts everything.

“There is no timetable, no shelter where they are stopping. It is selfishness and bloody laziness.

“All those millions have been invested in this and not they are not using it – it seems ludicrous.

“If there is an accident what happens then? Is four minutes worth more than someone’s life?”

In a statement Kernow First said: “It is our intention to have all services calling at the station, but this needs to form part of wider operating scheduling.

“First Kernow is working with the council to introduce these commercial services whilst at the same time making sure this is not at the expense of the reliability of these services elsewhere on the network.

This involves assessing access times into and out of station using the new traffic signal junction, and the impact this will have on bus times along the current route and turn round and layover times at both Penzance and Truro.”

In a statement Cornwall Council said: “It is the intention to have all bus services calling at the newly created transport hub at St Erth Station.

However we recognise that this needs to form part of the wider operating schedules for the bus services.

The Council is therefore working with First Kernow to introduce these commercial services to the hub whilst at the same time, making sure this is not at the expense of the reliability of these services elsewhere on the network.

This involves assessing access times into and out of station using the new traffic signal junction and the impact this will have on bus times along the current route and turn round and layover times at both Penzance and Truro.”