PC Coaches to run Walk & Ride commercially

Further to the news PC Coaches had lost its funding for Lincoln’s Walk & Ride city centre bus service (see issue 1460, 15 December 2017), the operator has announced it is to run the route on a fully commercial basis.

Lincoln BIG, the county town’s business development project, announced plans to withdraw its financial contribution to Walk and Ride by the end of January this year. MD of PC Coaches, Peter Smith, said: “This could have been a considerable blow for many bus users and goes against everything we as a local family business believe is right. And therefore we have had to make the decision to continue the Walk and Ride Service on a commercial basis, albeit it will be a reduced route but we will be introducing additional departures in the afternoon and the service will operate Monday to Saturday from 09.30am to 5.30pm.

“It has been a disappointing time for us with the financial support being withdrawn and also the fact that despite on several occasions we have tried to contact Mr Richard Davies from Lincolnshire County Council, he has not acknowledged our emails, direct messages or via social media. On reading the article it clearly said that it was Lincoln BIG who did not want the financial support from Lincolnshire County Council, at no point have PC Coaches of Lincoln said we did not want any financial contribution to keep the service running.

“Our decision has come after several internal meetings to consider the best way to proceed. We have not just been talking about the present but also the future and we want to incorporate it into our strategic vision for 2018 where we shall be heavily investing time and money into providing a more comprehensive network of local service across both the city and Lincolnshire.

“We would like to make it clear that this is being done on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis and will be reviewed in six months to ensure the service is viable. We welcome all support from the residents of Lincoln, the surrounding area and tourists alike to ensure the continuous running of this valuable service. We look forward to seeing the continual growth of this service which shall remain equally prominent alongside the services provided by other operators.”

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