£226.5m of recovery funding to support bus services in England outside London after the COVID-19 Bus Service Support Grant (CBSSG) Restart mechanism ends on 31 August has been made available by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The recovery funding will run to the end of the current financial year, beyond which no further COVID-19-related support for the sector will be provided. DfT will publish more information in due course, but Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps in a written statement to Parliament on 6 July said that the new mechanism will fund operators and local authorities.
In its response to the announcement, Stagecoach says that the support will “provide a fixed subsidy based on key metrics” that will “allow operators greater flexibility to adapt services to meet the new post-pandemic travel demand.” CBSSG Restart has now been closed to new applicants.
The new stream is closely aligned with policy aims of the National Bus Strategy. In return for the funding, operators will be “asked” to commit to co-operating the process laid down in Bus Back Better for the creation of Enhanced Partnerships or franchising schemes. Money will be provided on a formula basis, “ensuring that the sector can return to commerciality,” DfT says.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has welcomed the bus recovery funding. But it has called on the government to work with the industry to “loudly back a return to bus” to both assist the economic recovery of towns and cities, and to “ensure that the country remains on track to meet its ambitious climate change and air quality goals.”
CPT has also reiterated its unease about government messaging around the wearing of face coverings on public transport in England after the country moves to stage four of the recovery roadmap, which is expected to happen on 19 July. That approach – first outlined by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 5 July – is “likely to cause confusion” among bus users, underlining the need for a campaign to encourage them back to the mode.
