Leamington bus service to continue

Warwick University has assured students that there are no plans to withdraw the underperforming L1 bus service to Leamington, after concerns were expressed at current uptake.

The shuttle bus, operated by local contracting company Travel de Courcey, has struggled for passenger numbers in its first term of operation after the service’s eagerly anticipated commencement in September. Reports suggest some afternoon services are running nearly empty.

The reasons for the slow start are varied. Issues raised included the times at which the buses operate – with just four services returning to Leamington from campus, between 6pm and 7pm daily – and lack of student awareness.

An additional problem, discussed by all parties responsible for delivering the service, has been the response by long-standing Warwickshire bus provider Stagecoach, which has been “upping it’s game” and “mirroring” De Courcey peak time services.

University Transport Manager Graham Hine said, “The number on the de Courcey services has been disappointing. In the morning they’re operating at reasonable times and the uptake is good. In the afternoon, though, passenger numbers have been negligible.”

Hine was at pains to stress the importance of the service. “Its introduced competition to the Stagecoach monopoly” he said, “One of the reasons not to withdraw the service is to keep the pressure on Stagecoach to deliver.”

Students’ Union President Leo Boe backed this viewpoint. “I think that the L1 has the potential to do very well. I think that there may need to be more robust marketing about it.” Reflecting on withdrawal of the service, he commented, “If the provision was withdrawn we would fear that it would be difficult to get back into that market.”

The L1 service is part of the larger de Courcey bus contract, which also includes services to Eastern Green, Coventry railway station and Tile Hill. All of these are subsidised and funded by University investment, with none currently running as profit-making enterprises.

The L1 was created to support Stagecoach services in a ‘relief’ capacity. Students with Unirider passes can even get on for a discounted rate of £1 for a single.

Assessing why he thought the Leamington service wasn’t as effective as those operating in Coventry, Travel de Courcey General Manager Bob Wildman responded, “In Coventry we’re throwing away the hub and spoke system, we’re creating new transport hubs: the hospital, Eastern Green, the University… the big operators can’t do anything because we’re not operating on their routes. The problem with Leamington is the singular bus route [along the A453]. When we sat down and discussed the siatuation we decided, ‘Do we want to compete with Stagecoach? No’.”

Ways of improving the viability of the L1, other than better marketing to students, have hit sticking points. Explaining why extra services may not be possible, Hine said, “We don’t have the extra capacity to put on more buses.”

Boe added, “it’s more a question of practicality… the reason they cannot get a bus on before nine o’clock at the moment is because the other buses are being used to bring cleaning staff onto campus from Coventry mainly, and they have to go all the way back to Leamington to start doing their services from there.”

Student opinion on the L1 was varied. A few people had never even heard of the “white buses” as they are recognised. “They don’t go to Leamington do they?” said Craig Fox, a second-year Engineering student, currently using the Number 12 Travel Coventry service. “I’m not often on campus at 6[pm] so that’s a problem.”

“They’re not the best”, said regular user Jay Shah, first-year PPE student. “[The bus] is quite efficient, it appears on time, but it’s not frequent enough. Last night it was really busy – I couldn’t get a seat.”

The performance of the L1 is in stark contrast to the routes in Coventry, which have seen student waiting times greatly decrease. Remarking on the overall success of the University transport project, Boe said, “I would have to go and emphasise the success of the Coventry services because there has been a marked decrease in the number of people waiting around Hearsall Common in particular.”

Wildman believed that the figures for some de Courcey services “were stacking up” and could become commercially viable within four years. One student, John Hernan, a first-year Maths undergraduate, said that they were “a bit slow compared to the U1” but that he’d used them to go to Coventry and they were “pretty regular”.