An emergency government measure forcing councils to fund
concessionary bus fares at pre-COVID-19 travel levels - despite
passenger numbers plummeting – means local taxpayers are keeping
private bus companies afloat rather than paying for journeys, the
Local Government Association warns today.
Councils have a statutory duty to
administer the concessionary bus travel scheme in England. The
scheme provides older and disabled people with free off-peak
travel on all local bus services in England with
councilsresponsible for reimbursing bus
operators for journeys made by those with a
pass.
However, since the outbreak of the
pandemic, the Government has asked councils to make these
payments to bus providers based on pre-COVID-19 concessionary
travel levels. This is despite bus usage having dropped by 67 per
cent since March.
Many of those eligible for concessionary
travel are more likely to have pre-existing health conditions
which mean they have been encouraged not to travel on public
transport since the outbreak.
The LGA is calling on the Department for
Transport to end this emergency measure amid growing concerns by
councils about its sustainability and the impact it is having on
council budgets being stretched the limit by the costs of the
pandemic.
It says the link between concessionary
payments and the number of journeys being made is “broken” with
the scheme underfunded by Government by around £700 million a
year before the pandemic. This has left councils having to
subsidise the scheme at the cost of other essential
services.
Discretionary bus services - such as free
peak travel, community transport services, reduced fares and
school transport – have also had to be scaled back by local
authorities across the country for them to top up the statutory
national scheme from their discretionary
budgets.
The way the concessionary travel scheme
is funded by Whitehall has long been unfit for purpose and has
not kept up with growing demand and cost. The LGA is calling for
the Government to also use the Spending Review to fully fund the
concessionary fare scheme to ease the pressure on stretched
council budgets and protect cherished bus
services.
Cllr David Renard, LGA Transport
spokesman, said:
“Councils want
to work with the Government to improve and protect bus provision
during the crisis and beyond but it is increasingly clear that it
is unsustainable to ask councils to continue to prop up local bus
operators for a national scheme that is already
underfunded.
“The free bus pass provides a vital
service for our communities. It allows many vulnerable residents
to go shopping, pick up medication, and attend doctors’
appointments.
“Years of
underfunding of the scheme has left councils struggling to
subsidise the scheme. This is now increasingly impossible amid
pre-existing funding and demand pressures on local services, some
of which have been exacerbated by the
pandemic.
“Councils know how important buses are
for their residents and local economies and are desperate to
protect them. It is vital this scheme is properly funded so
councils can protect bus routes and reinvest in local
networks.”
