Sudbury councillor calls for Beestons to rethink reductions for bus service 91

Concerns over bus cuts has prompted a Sudbury town and county councillor to urge a bus company to reconsider changes to its transport service.

After being informed of the impact by passengers, Jack Owen said he could not comprehend why Beestons had reduced its 91 morning service, from Ipswich to Hadleigh, from 9.15am, meaning bus passes are not accepted until 9.31am.

During Tuesday’s full town council meeting, he said: “I can’t understand why they have made that change.

“It does seem a little bit unacceptable, so I’m going to write to Beestons to try to make them rethink the policy.”

Cllr Owen has raised further concerns over a limited choice of public transport in a letter to Mary Evans, the county council’s cabinet member for Highways.

Echoing similar sentiments, Ellen Murphy, who represents the St Leonards ward, highlighted the difficulty for passengers who wish to travel to Ipswich by public transport compared to other areas, including Bury St Edmunds and Colchester.

“It’s not worth going there,” she said. “So not only is it difficult to get a bus to Ipswich, but for people who live along that route, trying to get back to Sudbury to do some shopping is almost impossible. I can’t understand why you can get to Essex easily, but you can’t get to Sudbury.”

In response, Cllr Owen stated that as it was a commercial service, which did not receive any financial support from the county council, it relied heavily on passengers utilising the service to make it profitable for the company.