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Save Plymouth Buses from Privatisation
It has been less than a week since we started the petition to stop the plan to sell Plymouth Citybus, and already more than 7,000 signatures have been collected. Mark Baskerville, Unite the Union’s Branch Secretary at Citybus, said he was absolutely amazed and very pleased at the level of support shown for this campaign. Mark told us that he would like to thank everybody, staff and members of the public alike, for the effort they have shown so far and he hoped that they would carry on this good work, as the level of support shown from the people of Plymouth gives him real hope that we can collectively put pressure on the city councillors to ensure that Citybus is not sold. He urges people not only to sign the petition, but also to lobby their local councillors to ensure that these elected representatives are aware of the strength of feeling amongst their constituents.
Plymouth campaign - first leaflet
Plymouth City Bus to be sold…
Within hours of the council announcing that it was looking into selling its wholly owned local firm CityBus, both First Devon and Cornwall and a local taxi company boss expressed interest in acquiring the company. We’re not saying their buses will look like the shown one here but why change? Bloggs Bus or buses belonging to the People of Plymouth. Which would you choose?
Why sell?
Plymouth City Bus is profitable and public transport is also one of the few areas of employment to benefit from an economic downturn. Selling off the firm will surely lead to a reduction in services to the community and bus routes being lost. Who would this move benefit? That’s the question to ask. Ridiculously, the council claims there are “benefits for CityBus staff if a large commercial company was their employer, as working for a big company has benefits that we simply can’t offer, for example, share schemes or opportunities to travel and work elsewhere.” It’s news to thousands of bus workers around the country! Plymouth City Bus has not only kept employment standards high, it has done this by keeping a reasonably decent public service and providing the city with a modest profit in the bargain. Basically, Plymouth citizens have a bus service at no cost to themselves. Even fare prices, though still ludicrously high, are lower than they would be with private company ownership.
Passenger News special on Plymouth
