Shop owners shocked and saddened by bus cuts

Shopkeepers say they are shocked and saddened by a council's decision to cut a bus service only a year after it was launched.

Cumberland Council will stop subsidising the MD1 service from Maryport to Dearham, which runs through the centre of Maryport, due to poor usage.

The service was introduced in 2025 using part of a £3.5m government pot and was supported with a golden ticket scheme by local businesses, giving passengers perks such as discounts for using the service.

The owner at The Three Frogs clothing shop Michelle Mayman said the news was a "big disappointment" for the town. The council said the decision had been made with a "heavy heart".

Mayman said it was "such a shame" for non-motorists, adding: "To be able to get from town to town is really important for local businesses and the people themselves."

She said the loss was "a bit of a shock" but she did not believe the service had been well advertised.

"If more people knew about it hopefully more people would have used it," Mayman said.

Marie Buckley, owner of The Curiosity Shop on Senhouse Street, also felt more could have been done to promote the service.

"I never got one person coming in with a golden ticket, maybe it was used more with the cafes, but not directly to me," she said.

Katy Walton from nearby Essence Wellness said many people travelled to Maryport from nearby towns and the bus would be a loss.

"Public transport around Cumbria is shocking," she said, adding: "To lose another form of transport for people that live here or people just travelling around is just a shame."

The assistant director of highways and transport at the Labour-led council, Karl Melville, said the contract to run the MD1 would end on Thursday, but the authority was hopeful the service would briefly resume from early November before being scrapped at the end of the year.

Though they do not travel through the main shopping area of Maryport, two other buses serving the town - the 60 from Silloth and the 68 from Cockermouth - would continue to be subsidised for another 12 months, together with other buses introduced around the same time as the axed Maryport to Dearham route.

Melville said: "[Councillors] make these decisions with a very heavy heart. We don't want to put subsidised bus services in place only to remove them a year later."

He said the council made it clear when it launched 18 new services they would have to be supported by passengers.

The authority had also held meetings with MPs about the struggling routes, he said.

"We've done a lot of campaigning on our socials as a council, basically along the lines of use it or lose it," he said.

"We have to balance the books at the end of the day."

The MD1 will be one of six services to have their funding cut from the new year.

The DR1 from Carlisle city centre to South Carlisle Health Centre, which was designed to help patients get to appointments, will also be scrapped.

Melville said the council did consider the importance of the route, but considered there were two other services running close to the surgery.

"It leaves a very, very short walk to the surgery, but we looked at the numbers and on average that bus was taking [fewer] than 12 people a day."

The 93S Sunday service between Carlisle, Kirkbride and Anthorn, is also among the axed routes, together with the the extra 93AM morning peak journeys on the same route and extra services added to timetables on the 64 serving Cargo, Rockcliffe and Durdar.

A council report said due to low use, the cost per passenger to deliver the routes was at least £20 per person.

Daily passenger numbers recorded ranged between three on the 93S and 25 on the MD1.

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