AFTER the shock news that Webberbus had collapsed, the Bridgwater Transport Forum called a meeting to discuss the future.

Held on May 24, chair of the forum, Councillor Moira Brown, invited county’s service commissioning manager, Jane Newell, and operational service manager, John Perrett, to Bridgwater Town Hall to face the delegates.

A long term plan was raised, with Jane Newell outlining the idea to cover services for an interim period.

John Perrett said he was talking to First Buses about commercial services they can provide and once confirmed, they will put the remaining service out to consultation.

He said: "School routes are now out to tender and will be placed before new term starts.

"Commercial routes would be open to any provider but subsidised routes cannot be open to commercial."

Glen Burrows, of Friends of Bridgwater Station, described how Somerset should be taking responsibility.

"This must be a turning point when Somerset should step up to the line and take their responsibility seriously about rural transport," she said.

"The elephant in the room is clearly that a responsible local authority must see what happens when they don’t have a regulated public transport service.

"The prime concern is reliability.

"Transport is vital to peoples existence."

She emphasised the Town Council’s policy to urge the county to re-establish a Somerset Transport Forum.

The issue of subsidies and the number of bus users in Somerset being low was also brought up, with Mike Slade of Inland Waterways suggesting using appropriate sized busses for appropriate routes.

Supporters at the meeting urged other solutions such as community car share or lessening the requirements on service providers.

Councillor Brian Smedley said: "Maybe it takes a crisis like this to show how much people depend on transport and how the solution has to be a co-ordinated one.

"Too often the result of a casino economy is people being left high and dry when they’re left out of the provision altogether for commercial reasons."

He also asked if the county officers were able to quash local rumours that the police were investigating the collapse of Webberbus, with the response that county officers 'couldn’t possibly comment.'

Councillor Ann Bown said: "We’re all very sorry for the workers who lost their jobs but people don’t realise what a difficult job this is.

"I see villages with only three people on the bus and then they just use their pass cards.

"It’s not really bringing revenue is.

"It’s a case of use it or lose it.

"Maybe the towns and parishes could put some money in."

Councillor Moira Brown added: "The transport situation is dire around here and Bridgwater people feel they are victims.

"It’s so important that people engage with the consultation process to show exactly what the demand is."