Ringfenced funding given to local authorities in England for buses and bus services is welcome, despite its largely short-term nature. But it sits against a growing trend of some of those same councils having no alternative to the butchering of discretionary bus spending in the name of balancing overall budgets.
Nottingham is blessed by a high-quality commercial bus network, but the conurbation will likely see a major cut to discretionary outlay on buses from the City Council’s transport budget because of that local authority’s dire financial straits. Nottingham’s Medilink service has an uncertain future, and two park-and-ride sites are expected to go. Real-time displays at bus stops will also be turned off.
Hampshire County Council (HCC), meanwhile, plans to withdraw all supported bus service subsidy and reduce ENCTS scope to the legal minimum. Two routes that receive HCC funding each cost the local authority the princely sum of 31p per passenger journey, but they hang in the balance as HCC scrambles to fill a financial black hole.
Those authorities, and many others, say that local government is in financial crisis. If councils can afford to provide little above the statutory baseline, it should be no surprise that discretionary bus spending comes under the microscope and is nominated for reduction or removal.
Meanwhile, Hampshire and Nottingham are beneficiaries of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) fund in England, which is in the process of delivering new battery-electric fleets in both locations.
Logically enough, bus operators are required to work closely with local authority partners where such public money is in play. But if those councils have not a penny for discretionary bus spending, how will shiny new battery-electrics deliver the best return on their government subsidy once ZEBRA, Bus Service Improvement Plan, Transforming Cities Fund, and other ringfenced pots have been spent?
HCC highlights a further absurdity amid its extreme financial pressure: A reduction in subsidised local bus services will pressure its statutory requirement to provide home-to-school transport for eligible children. That legal mandate cannot be circumnavigated, and the money for it must be found.
Funding stresses for local authorities are unlikely to be solved soon after the general election. Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has made clear that if Labour forms the next government, there will be no immediate spending bonanza, although she must surely recognise the perilous state of local authority finances and the need for urgent action.
What Ms Reeves must also commit to is a long-term, fair funding settlement for bus services in England, regardless of the regulatory mechanism under which they are provided, and which brings consequential money for the devolved nations. Local authorities and operators know best about where spending on buses should be prioritised. They should be free to act upon that.
