School pupils are just some of the regular passengers who rely on the reinstated 84B bus service between Potters Bar and High Barnet -- a route which needs additional funding if its future operation is to be guaranteed.
Barnet Council and the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson are being urged to put pressure on Transport for London to help fund the service at least within the boundary of the Greater London Authority.
After mounting anger over Metroline’s withdrawal of the previous 84 route from New Barnet station to St Albans, Hertsmere Borough Council put up the money a year ago to provide a replacement service connecting Potters Bar to High Barnet.
The introduction of the 84B by Central Connect was greeted with relief by many residents in both towns, not least because it provided a reliable connection for patients attending Barnet Hospital and the Potters Bar Community Hospital.
But a year after it was launched with a champagne send off, Hertsmere councillor Nik Oakley, who led the campaign to persuade the borough council to intervene, is warning that further pledges of financial support are urgently needed if the service is to continue long term.
Sharon Boast, a long-standing High Barnet supporter of the replacement 84B, is doing what she can to build up a campaign to put pressure on TfL to help guarantee the running of what she says is a vital service.
She has called on High Barnet Councillors Emma Whysall and Paul Edwards to take this up with Barnet Council. She has also written to Dan Tomlinson asking him to put their case for funding to TfL.
Sharon held up her letter to the MP to publicise the campaign as passengers boarded the 3.28 pm departure to Potters Bar from the bus stop outside Barnet post office.
In the queue were pupils from QE Girls’ School who rely on the 84B to get to and from the school and their homes in Hadley Highstone and Potters Bar.
Boys from Queen Elizabeth’s School who live in Potters Bar are also dependent on the service.
Councillor Oakley says that although Hertfordshire County Council has provided some funds to keep the 84B going, she is urging residents to remember that it is still a case of “use it or lose it”.
While not under immediate threat, she wants passengers at the High Barnet end of the route to urge Barnet Council and TfL to make a contribution.
Another regular user of the service, Debbie Allen – seen above with Sharon Boast – said the 84B provided a vital link between Barnet and Potters Bar and was relied upon especially by elderly and disabled passengers.
In her letter to Dan Tomlinson, Sharon reminds the new MP that when the previous 84 route was withdrawn by Metroline in April 2022 there was no service for 18 months and this was disastrous for the residents of both towns.
She joined the campaign because the loss of the bus had been a great personal inconvenience, requiring her husband to lose four days work so that he could drive her to and from appointments at the Moorfields Eye Clinic at the Potters Bar Community Hospital.
“For people in High Barnet, the 84B is the only public service to reach the community hospital...and Potters Bar and Hadley Highstone residents need access to Barnet Hospital, The Spires shopping centre and High Barnet tube station.”
Her concern is that Hertsmere – which funded an initial 12-month contract worth £183,600 – might not be able to meet shoulder the full cost in the future which is why she hopes TfL can be persuaded to contribute towards the cost of the 84B within the GLA boundary.
Data on the use of the 84B route indicates that nearly half of the passengers are fare paying adults; 36 per cent elderly; 10 per cent students; and 5 per cent disabled – figures which supporters of the route say demonstrate its importance to a wide cross section of the community.
