Devon County Council have been responding to the news that Tally Ho are giving up four bus routes as a result of their inability to find enough drivers.

The routes are SH160 is the Kingsbridge town service and the SH162 runs between Kingsbridge, Loddiswell, Thurlestone and Hope Cove, the SH612 Mothecombe to Lee Mill Tesco (Tuesdays only) and the SH875 Bigbury to Plymouth bus station (Fridays only)

Tally Ho’s contracts are to end on March 31.

A spokesperson for Devon County Council told us: “We can confirm that Tally Ho has handed back two contracts for four subsidised bus services (services which they currently support financially) with effect from March 31 2023. 

These services are the 160, 162, 612 and 875.

When a bus operator wishes to surrender a bus service, they must firstly enter into a 28 day consultation period with the Local Transport Authority (LTA).  This allows the LTA time to decide what action they are going to take.  Following this, there is a 42 day notification period with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. 

If it is a commercial bus service that is being surrendered, the LTA does not have a responsibility to reinstate the service.  Devon County Council (DCC) appraises the level of patronage for the surrendered service to see if it meets the funding criteria to reinstate the service on a subsidised basis.

If, as with these services, the surrendered services are subsidised, the LTA does have a responsibility to commission a replacement service.  However in the current climate it is not always possible to commission a “like for like” replacement.  DCC are currently working at pace to find alternate companies to deliver these contracts. We hope to broadly maintain frequency and capacity, although it is not always possible to commission a replicate service, and in some cases passengers may face changes to the timetable. 

Any changes to these services will be published at least one month before the new timetable comes into effect.  For more information and updates to services please visit www.traveldevon.info’’