Seven Metro Mayors in England have launched an attack on the bus industry and central government over what they believe are looming cuts to services and fare increases, saying that the two parties must share blame for such “strategic short-sightedness of the worst kind.”
In a joint statement issued on 14 February, the group of politicians claim that bus operators and the government alike display “a lack of concern for the future of our buses” as the planned end of Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) funding on 5 April approaches.
They are urging the government to extend recovery support, a move that Department for Transport (DfT) officials have stated on more than one occasion that they continue to explore. The Mayors want to see both continuing emergency funding, and ministers making good on previous pledges for long-term investment in buses in England.
The statement is signed by Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire; Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester; Jamie Driscoll, Mayor of North of Tyne; Dan Jarvis, Mayor of South Yorkshire; Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Dan Norris, Mayor of West of England; and Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region.
At the same time as calling for further government backing for buses, the Mayors say that operators should “give something back after the support that they have had during lockdown, and be genuine partners for the long-term health of the service.”
Earlier in February Mr Jarvis wrote to the respective heads of First Bus and Stagecoach pointing out that they had each received “millions of pounds of subsidy to keep services running – at a profit – during lockdown.” That is despite the COVID-19 Bus Service Support Grant mechanism, which was succeeded by BRG on 1 September 2021, precluding via its terms and conditions the return of profit for service delivery, although profit is theoretically permitted under BRG.
While operators come in for criticism from the group of politicians, their crosshairs are trained largely on ministers. “We have come together as Metro Mayors to express our profound concern that the government’s failure to extend support for bus services is on the verge of causing serious harm across the country,” they write.
“We ask the government to act urgently to avoid needlessly locking in the damage caused by COVID-19, weakening our local economies and undermining the effort to transform and decarbonise our transport.” Steps that they claim operators are making towards introducing cuts to bus services and raising fares “even before the prospects for recovery are clear” are “unacceptable,” the Mayors continue.
The current trajectory is “wildly incompatible” with National Bus Strategy policies, they add. At the same time, the Mayors accuse the government of having “double counted or diverted” some of the £3bn pot that was originally allocated to delivering aspirations outlined in Bus Back Better. They are particularly critical of the decision to reduce the funding allocated to that work to less than half of the original sum.
