Hertsmere Borough Council has agreed to pay a subsidy of £600 a day for the re-introduction of an hourly bus service -- the 84B -- to reconnect Potters Bar to High Barnet.
There will now be a new direct service to vital stops such as Potters Bar Community Hospital, The Spires shopping centre, High Barnet tube station and Barnet Hospital.
Galleon Travel, which operates services in Hertfordshire and Essex through its bus division Central Connect, has been awarded a 12-month contract worth £183,600 to operate the route from Monday to Saturday, starting on Monday 4 September.
After the withdrawal of the previous 84 service from New Barnet to St Albans in early 2022, hospital patients and school pupils from Potters Bar have been forced to take a roundabout route using two buses via Cockfosters or pay for taxis.
Such was the mounting anger and strength of the protest campaign, that the Labour Party made a pledge in the May council elections to reinstate the service.
At a special meeting of Hertsmere’s cabinet, councillors agreed to take the innovative step of using money from its community infrastructure levy – which is charged on new development – to fund the new 84B route.
“We are one of the first local authorities in the country to find a way to use this levy to subsidise a bus service…so our message to passengers is use it or lose it,” said Councillor Nik Oakley (above) before the council cabinet voted unanimously in favour.
With her responsibility for transport, Councillor Oakley worked with officials in Hertsmere and Hertfordshire County Council to plan a route and timetable, arrange funding and then advertise for a bus operator.
“We did this in two and a half months, when normally it would take six months, but we were determined to get this through in time for the start of the new school term on September the 4th.”
Before Labour took control the previous Conservative-led council said the community infrastructure levy could not be used to subsidise a bus service.
But the new administration managed to find a way to take £183,600 from the £241,500 levy money that had been allocated to Potters Bar for neighbourhood projects.
Councillor Jeremy Newmark, leader of the council, said the contribution from the levy met an obvious need and was “seed funding” to finance the first year of the service.
Hertsmere was “intrinsically connected” to the London Boroughs and this was especially the case with Potters Bar, some of whose residents were dependent on Barnet for education and health, with local doctors sending more patients to Barnet Hospital for blood tests and other health checks.
Potters Bar has a higher proportion of elderly residents than the rest of Hertsmere – 21.9 per cent are over 65, compared with 16.6 per cent for the rest of the borough.
“This decision is not just about an election pledge. This is about sending a message that buses matter,” said Councillor Newmark.
“As a small borough council, we have identified a role we can play to provide seed funding to restart the service and we will look to other partners to help provide long term funding if need be.”
Hertsmere has been encouraged by the response from Barnet Council and Transport for London which had both indicated they might be prepared to help finance the service in the future, depending on the uptake.
Hertfordshire had suggested the possibility of additional funding of £60,000 which could allow the subsidised service to continue for a further two months.
Galleon Travel will operate the service with ULEZ-compliant, low-floor buses offering a minimum of 30 seats.
The service will accept English national concessionary bus passes, Hertfordshire saver cards and student bus tickets.
The first morning departure will be the 6.05am from Potters Bar railway station, arriving at Barnet Hospital at 6.34am. The final departure from Barnet Hospital will be the 19.10 pm, arriving at Potters Bar station at 19.34 pm.
The re-introduction of the 84B has been welcomed by staff and patients at the Moorfields eye clinic at the Potters Bar Community Hospital and by residents of Hadley Highstone and Monken Hadley who have been inconvenienced by the withdrawal of a regular bus service.
For further details about the route and timetable see: https://www.barnetsociety.org.uk/new-84b-route-will-provide-hourly-bus-service-from-potters-bar-to-barnet-connecting-hospitals-and-stations
In outlining the need for the 84B, Councillor Oakley stressed the anguish resulting from the withdrawal of the previous service.
Pupils were late arriving at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School and Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School; nurses who lived in Potters Bar were having to catch taxis home from Barnet Hospital, and elderly patients forced to find £20 to £30 for taxis. One family had even been forced to move home.
One critical voice in the debate was Councillor Alexander Clarkson who criticised Transport for London for failing to provide immediate financial support.
With the imminent extension of the ULEZ zone and the charge of £12.50 a day for non-compliant vehicles, he asked why Hertsmere was having to pay to “dig the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, out of a hole”.
In reply, Councillor Newmark said Hertfordshire was the transport authority for Hertsmere and the county council has received £29.7 million to invest in bus services across the country over the next three years.
“How much is coming to Hertsmere? Not a single penny.”
No stone had been left unturned by Hertsmere looking for ways to finance the 84B and he thought the innovative use of the community infrastructure levy was an “excellent” move by the council.
Councillor Newmark thanked the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers for her support and encouragement and especially Councillor Oakley who had rightly earned the title of “queen of bus provision” in Hertsmere.
In welcoming the restoration of the bus service, Ms Villiers -- seen here at one of the 84 bus protests -- said there had been a determined cross-party campaign to save the 84.
She would continue to campaign for long-term funding but in the meantime it was vital to get passengers numbers up, so the message to her constituents was to use the 84B as much as possible as it was a case of “use-it-or-lose-it”.
