A COUNCILLOR has admitted he will “park the bus” for the time being on his efforts of trying to get subsidised off-peak bus travel between Wellington and Taunton.

Cllr Mike McGuffie is keen to see buses used more widely by local people and has previously suggested that Wellington Town Council steps in to provide free off-peak bus travel from Wellington to Taunton on at least one day a week.

He and town clerk, Dave Farrow, recently met with the First Bus organisation to discuss the possibilities of subsidised off-peak bus fares.

“There are empty buses running all the time,” said Cllr McGuffie at the council’s environment committee on November 20. “Off-peak bus journeys are 75 per cent empty, while at the same cars are being driven about virtually empty as well. It is nuts!”

But Cllr Mark Lithgow, despite applauding the sentiment, believed it was a step too far for the council to get involved with.

“This is a far bigger thing for this council to get involved in,” he said. “We can’t afford it and this really is beyond our remit. We just can’t get involved in this – it’s too big.”

Cllr Lithgow added: “Whatever we put in it would be just one bucket of water thrown off the end of the pier into the ocean – it wouldn’t make any difference at all.”

Cllr McGuffie, the environment committee chairman, conceded that talks with First Bus had not been overly encouraging.

“We have had a go and engaged with First Bus,” he said. “But perhaps we need to take a step back from this and examine things further and possibly look at what grants might be available.

“It is very frustrating. We’re talking about a climate emergency and here we have buses going around virtually empty and cars being driven not to capacity.”

Cllr Sean Pringle-Kosikowsky said that electric buses were being introduced which would help a little with environmental awareness.

Cllr Chris Penk, who works at A House of Cake in the town centre, said he had seen with his own eyes the “shocking” reliability of buses.

“I saw from the shop children queuing at the bus stop at 8.30am and they were still there at 11.30am waiting for their bus,” he said.

And he added: “If the planned train station project doesn’t go-ahead we should pressure our MP to look at the buses.”

Cllr Lithgow said he was having a meeting about local bus services, but did not want to say too much at this point in time.

Back in April the town council backed the Wellington Bus User Group, part of the Somerset Bus Partnership organisation, with a £420 grant to help with the printing of bus timetables and publicity event costs aimed at raising awareness of bus travel.

And Cllr McGuffie said last year that the planned £15million being spent on a new railway station for Wellington would be enough to subsidise bus travel between Wellington and Taunton for 30 years, while it would pay for all buses in Somerset for one year.