Following Whippet Coaches' withdrawal of its Huntingdon/St Neots service to London and Jonathan Djanogly's representations to the Secretary of State for Transport, he has now received an unsatisfactory response from Sally Keeble, a junior Minister at the Department.
In her letter, she gave no commitment to working for a restoration of the service and Mr Djanogly remains concerned about the lack of a public transport alternative to the railways, particularly given the continued disruption of the train service, which means that the only alternative is the car.
Mr Djanogly said:
"At a time when the Government is pledged to take cars off the road, I was surprised and disappointed to receive a reply which says, in effect, that whilst they recognise the importance of coach travel "offering alternatives to rail travel at competitive fares", they have no proposals which would deliver such a service for Huntingdonshire. This is clearly another example of a Government that is long on spin and short on delivery."
Mr Djanogly has therefore written to a number of coach operators in the area suggesting that they investigate the viability of a renewed service and offering to help.
Mr Djanogly said:
"I have spoken to many people in the constituency since Whippet announced their intention to withdraw their London coach service. They have invariably told me that they were not aware of its existence and that they have never seen it advertised. It could well be, therefore, that wiht the appropriate advertising, this route would be profitable."
He added:
"I do feel that it is very important that Huntingdon retains a cheap and alternative mode of transport to London and despite the Government washing its hands of the problem, I will do my best to encourage another operator to step in."