103 Bus Service to End on 14th April

Joint Statement issued by Damory Coaches and Dorset County Council
January 2012

Bus services serving Dorchester and surrounding area – route numbers 1-4, 7, 95, 103 and 347/387

Damory has given notice that it is no longer able to run the above bus services on a commercial basis. While the company is only required to formally give 2 months’ notice it has agreed to delay the termination of the services in their current form until after 14th April 2012.

In the intervening period Damory will cooperate with the County Council to review all the bus services in the Dorchester area with a view to jointly designing an alternative, viable network to continue to provide a service to the communities affected by the change.

Andrew Wickham, Managing Director of Damory Coaches said: “I am disappointed that we can no longer run these services on a commercial basis, which we have done without financial support since summer 2011. Unfortunately, the number of passengers is simply too low to cover the costs of running the services going forward. We are working closely with the county council to design a viable network for the area. We run a number of long-standing other services in Dorset, which will continue unchanged.”

Peter Finney, the County Council Cabinet Member responsible for Transportation said: “While it is disappointing that these routes cannot be made to pay it is vital that communities in and around Dorchester have an adequate bus service. I am very pleased that Damory has agreed to delay the date at which these services will cease to allow time for alternatives to be considered and procured. County Council transport experts will now work rapidly to develop options to try to prevent any serious break in service as well as providing depot space in Dorchester for operators’ buses.”