"If you think bus and rail services are crap, sign our petition to take them back"

South Yorkshire Socialist Party campaigning on bus and rail services, photo by South Yorkshire Socialist Party (Click to enlarge)

I am a public transport commuter, and to say there has been a steady decline in services over the past three years would be an understatement.

I catch a minimum of 15 buses a week and have to report at least two a week that don't turn up.

The biggest change came after First Bus closed down their local Rotherham depot, to save money, and started running all their from the Sheffield depot, in another city, eight miles away.

I also catch five trains a week between Sheffield and Rotherham, run by 'Northern Fail'. These are late on a regular basis.

For this reason, and hearing similar complaints daily from fellow commuters, our Socialist Party branch decided to start a campaign about public transport.

The Sheffield City Region Mayor, Barnsley Blairite MP Dan Jarvis, has powers to introduce bus regulation under a franchise model like Transport for London, and is currently consulting about options to improve services.

We did a campaign stall outside Rotherham Interchange with a petition supporting regulation of buses as a step towards public ownership and for nationalisation of rail services.

This could increase punctuality and reduce fares which otherwise will keep increasing.

The stall was very successful, especially when we started saying: "If you think bus and rail services are crap, sign our petition to take them back."

We collected near to 100 signatures and a good amount of donations for the Socialist Party fighting fund.

What struck me most was the number of elderly passengers affected by bus service removals.

One woman explained that she now has to walk for half an hour after two of her services had been cut. Doing so had caused her to have a bad fall, breaking bones.

The actions of these profiteering companies have direct consequences on people's lives. They neither realise nor care about this as long as the shareholders are in pocket.

We say take them back.

Tom Lynn, South Yorkshire Socialist Party

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Coronavirus crisis - Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
Our 'fighting coronavirus workers' charter', outlines a programme to combat the virus and protect workers' living conditions.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.