‘Ten days to act’ Labour warns, as thousands of bus services face the axe

Labour has warned the Conservatives are “asleep at the wheel” as thousands of bus services face the axe, without certainty over vital funding.

Today (Tuesday 7 February) Labour will warn that there are “just ten days to act” before operators are forced to begin slashing bus routes across England.

With the Government’s Bus Recovery Grant set to expire at the end of March communities face a crisis within days, as operators are required to give six-weeks’ notice of plans to cancel or change routes.

Labour’s analysis, based on figures by the Confederation of Passenger Transport released today, reveals that over 1,600 routes could be cut this spring, leaving England with fewer than 10,000 routes for the first time since records began.

In the last year alone, over 1,100 routes have been cut, despite the Conservatives promising “bus services so frequent you wouldn’t need a timetable” and vowing to “not only halt the decline (in bus services) but reverse it.”

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh MP, is urging the Government to:

• Give bus operators, communities and local leaders the certainty they need on the future of the Bus Recovery Grant
• Come clean on wider long-term funding for the Bus Back Better strategy –over half of communities are seeing no funding whatsoever from the strategy, leaving the Government’s pledge to transform bus services in tatters
• Put communities in control by following Labour’s plan to give communities power and control of their bus routes and fares.

Louise Haigh MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, said:

“The Conservatives are asleep at the wheel, risking the future of services millions of passengers depend on.

“They have ten days to act, or services could plunge to a record low.

“After 13 years of the Conservatives, the bus services communities depend on are stumbling from one crisis to the next.

“Labour will reform the broken bus system, giving communities control of their own bus routes and fares and delivering the better bus services that passengers need.”

Ends

Notes:

• The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) have warned that up to 15% of bus services in England are at risk if the Bus Recovery Grant is not renewed. CPT can be contacted via Paul Street, Director of External Affairs (paul.street@cpt-uk.org / 07778 355480).

• A 15% cut to bus services in England would see services fall from 10,941 to 9,300 – a fall of 1,641 services. This would be the first time they fall below 10,000 since the Traffic Commissioner began reporting on this.

• Buses are the most used mode of public transport in England – with 2.8 billion passenger journeys in 2021/22.

• Operators must give 42 days’ notice to the Traffic Commissioner to register changes or withdrawals to bus routes. With the current funding set to expire from the end of March, the last date for bus companies to announce cancellations will be 17 February unless they get certainty from the Government.

• Eastern Traffic Area: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire
• North Eastern Traffic Area: Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham, Tees Valley, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire
• North Western Traffic Area: Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Derbyshire
• South Eastern & Metropolitan: Greater London, Kent & Medway, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex (inc. Brighton & Hove)
• West Midlands Traffic Area: West Midlands (inc. Birmingham), Warwickshire, Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire
• Western Traffic Area: Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Bristol