What will the next government do to end the bus cuts crisis?
As we look forward with trepidation to cuts at the beginning of a new Government which make our recent experience seem like small fry in the public sector this story can stand for many other threatened services the death of which will make life in some rural communities unviable. It tells us:
Millions of people rely on local bus services to get them to work, school, job interviews, hospital appointments and shops. According to annual bus statistics [pdf] from the Department for Transport (DfT) there were 4.7bn passenger journeys on buses in England in 2013-14. But as austerity measures make mincemeat of council budgets many vital subsidised services – which provide a bus where one is needed but no commercially operated route exists – are disappearing.
In addition to the government’s 28% cut in funding for local authorities, the bus service operators grant, which provides a fuel duty rebate to bus service operators, has also been cut by 20%. Cash-strapped local authorities have responded by reducing their funding for bus services by £44m (15%), and more than 2,000 routes or services have been lost [pdf], according to the Campaign For Better Transport (CBT).
Although they only account for 19% of bus services in England outside of London, subsidised services are often the only form of public transport isolated people can access. In counties such as Hertfordshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire and East Sussex these services have been particularly hard hit. North Yorkshire has cut 90 bus services, according to figures the CBT obtained through freedom of information requests.