A KEY figure in the purchase of Guernsey’s bus fleet is adamant that the right decision was made. Former Traffic Committee president Peter Bougourd denied that the vehicles were too big for the roads.

‘I think it’s been adequately demonstrated that the buses are well within the legal limits for size,’ he said.

At 31ft 8.5in. long, he said, they were well inside the 35ft maximum of the commercial vehicle law.

At 7ft 8.5in. wide, the buses were bought to comply with the law of the the time.

He said their specification was being negotiated at the same time as the committee was wording a policy letter to allow wider commercial vehicles up to 8ft 2in. on island roads.

‘Trailers that were in use in Guernsey at the time were illegal and it was not possible to buy narrower ones, so we had to allow companies the increased width.’

A particular problem came with refrigerated trailers as pallets used for loading goods were of a standard size and there was the thickness of insulation to add.

At the same time it was recognised that there were only two manufacturers making lorries that would comply with the law so these regulations were looked at as well.

‘The committee originally considered ordering standard size buses which would have complied with the policy letter, but we realised that it was not feasible as the States might reject the proposals.’

He said there must be hundreds of lorries in Guernsey that were the same width or greater than the 33 buses in the fleet, he said. The flat front of the buses made them deceptive in terms of width.

‘Buses need to be four seats wide with an aisle that can take a wheelchair and how will you get that into seven feet?’

The wheelchair facility specified by the committee had proved to be a boon for shoppers with trolleys and mothers with buggies. They were using the buses in increasing numbers.

‘It took 20 years for the old bus service to decline gradually to the abysmal level of use in 1999. If anybody expects it to come back in five minutes they are living in cuckoo land as people already have theirs cars now.’

The buses had been bought for the future.

‘The buses were bought to cater for the anticipated rise in passenger numbers over the next 10 to 15 years, which is the life expectancy of the current fleet.’

Payment of the £3.15m. had been spread out over their life expectancy.

‘I’m proud that it was my name that went on the order for those buses and I make no apologies to anyone because they are the right ones for the job.’