Chesterfield buses: Stagecoach replies as campaign launched following complaints by residents

Adrian Rimington, chairman of the National Pensioners’ Convention, has launched a campaign calling for improvements in bus services across Chesterfield.

Mr Rimington has held public meetings to talk about bus problems with affected residents and has raised the issue with the council and Mr Perkins.

Following a public meeting hosted in Chesterfield on Wednesday, August 30, as a part of the campaign, Mr Rimington said: “45 per cent of the Stagecoach funds are government grants passed through Derbyshire County Council but Stagecoach still chery pick the routes that they want to run. This needs to change.”

The campaign follows multiple complaints about the current services, which residents say are not regular and do not run long enough in the evening. Service 39, has been particularly criticised with the last bus from Chesterfield to Holme Hall running at 9pm Mr Rimmington explained that it makes it impossible for residents, particularly pensioners and those that don’t drive, to go to the theatre or bingo in the evening.

Many residents have complained to the Derbyshire Times earlier this year about buses in Chesterfield including in a recent letter about a bus that did not turn up, forcing residents to wait at an overheated bus station.

Mr Rimmington has tried to contact Staegoach numerous times to discuss concerns.

A spokesperson for Stagecoach said: “We are aware of the feedback from Mr Rimington. Like many bus operators, and other service industries, we have suffered from staff shortages. However, the situation is improving and whilst we still have some work to do in this area, our training school is busy, and the number of leavers has reduced significantly. Last week we ran 98.72 per cent of all our mileage from our Chesterfield depot.

"We are also working closely with Derbyshire County Council on a range of measures to realign services across Chesterfield, so they better reflect current demand. These include a number of improvements, some as a direct result of customer requests. Further details of these will be available in the next few weeks.”