A lower fares scheme in North Staffordshire that is a fruit of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) revenue funding allocated to Stoke-on-Trent City Council (SoTCC) could end early, with seemingly unexpected success meaning that its pot will run out before the planned cessation date, operator D&G Bus has claimed.
The Affordable Fares Scheme applies to period multi-operator tickets and started in July 2023. In addition to journeys within Stoke-on-Trent, it subsidises those made to and from, and outside, the city in the wider North Staffordshire Smart zone. With no further funding, it is due to end on 31 March 2025, but D&G says that the sum already allocated will be used before then.
The Centrebus subsidiary adds that the need for a “modest increase” to fares from 1 July has been apparent to partners in the project, including operators and SoTCC. Such an uplift would “ensure that the scheme runs through to its planned end date,” D&G believes.
It alleges that SoTCC has not responded to proposals for such changes that were presented on 15 May, despite a decision on that being due in mid-July. “Operators have heard nothing and have received no further information,” the business says in a statement.
The local authority acknowledges that the project has been “extremely successful and… resulted in a huge increase in bus passengers.” A spokesperson adds: “To ensure we can continue the scheme for as long as possible, we are now reviewing all our options.”
D&G and Centrebus Managing Director David Brookes echoes that the BSIP-funded lower fares approach is “a great success and has considerably increased the number of bus passengers.”
However, he claims that “continual delays” in agreeing the proposed uplift mean that the existing fare reductions “may have to end early and fares [may] be increased [by] more than necessary, leading to a loss of passengers and fewer bus services in Stoke-on-Trent.”
In an unusual direct attack on a local authority by a bus operator, Mr Brookes adds: “The City Council’s failure to make a decision could mean that services will be reduced in the future.” Via mainstream media sources SoTCC has expressed disappointment in D&G’s decision to make its grievance public.
A reports pack for a meeting of the SoTCC Cabinet on 30 July shows that of £9.42 million BSIP capital money allocated to the 2023/24 financial year, only £1.37 million was spent.
Underspends were also reported by the local authority for its Transforming Cities Fund allocation and that for bus lanes. SoTCC did not respond to questions asking about the BSIP underspend.
The Department for Transport (DfT) previously said that BSIP capital funding may only be spent on those measures and cannot be reallocated to revenue projects. Via a Q&A in July 2023 after debut of what was then termed BSIP Plus, DfT hinted that such a position is to prevent transfer of funding from ‘difficult’ capital works to ‘easy’ revenue schemes.
SoTCC has also not clarified whether in view of the underspend for FY2023/24 it expects to spend all its BSIP capital allocation. FY2024/25 has a proposed allocation of £7.9 million to that line with nothing beyond then, although DfT stated in summer 2023 that it will consider extensions of delivery deadlines for BSIP capital projects beyond 31 March 2025.
The source close to the BSIP work says that £7.2 million of BSIP capital funding not yet spent is for a bus link road that bus operators “do not want.”
When compiling its original BSIP submission, SoTCC sought £16 million to build a different section of road that was unlikely to be used by buses on the grounds that it would remove traffic from other areas. That ask did not progress and it is understood that it was objected to by operators.
