BUS SERVICES to the town’s Tudor Grange Academy and St Augustine’s are the ones affected by County Council’s decision to withdraw a number of contracts from Diamond.
On Wednesday (February 17), County Councillor John Smith (Cons, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways) said the operational performance of the company had been closely scrutinised and monitored and whilst there has been some improvements, some significant problems remain.
Question marks still hang over how many Diamond buses turn up on time, the reliability of Diamond’s vehicles, the performance of its drivers and the company’s communication issues.
As a result the LRE019 (in part S57 and S91) which serves both schools will be terminated from March 11 alongside Tudor Grange’s LRE020 (S94).
Following the announcement, Paul McNamara, business development manager, told the Standard Diamond have taken the news seriously and, as a result, have reviewed all of its school services across Redditch.
He added: “To enable us to meet this desire, and to restore the balance between costs and income following the loss of these contracts, we will also cease to operate services S75 and S93 which also serve St Augustine’s and Tudor Grange Schools at a date to be agreed with County Council.
“This not only gives Diamond a basis for moving forward but is also an opportunity for County Council to review transport provision to these schools and secure the best deal for them.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Redditch MP Karen Lumley said she was disappointed but not surprised by this announcement.
“Clearly things were not improving as promised and, especially with regard to schools, it is important that the town’s schoolchildren have a reliable service that they can trust will get them to school on time every day.”
So far it has not been announced what will replace the Diamond services in question although county officials are believed to be talking to other local operators.
