£1.1bn investment in transforming bus services outside London ‘simply not enough’

The Department for Transport announced last April the funding was going to be provided to support bus service improvement plans in 31 areas of the country, including two in Yorkshire.

It came after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced £3bn for a “bus revolution” and promised to put an end to the “fragmented, fully commercialised market” which has operated outside the capital since 1986.

However, just over 40 per cent of bids made by local authority leaders were successful and the winners “only received a fraction of what they needed", an investigation by Parliament’s Transport Committee found.

Its report stated: “Local areas were asked to be ambitious, but the department has not matched this level of ambition in the funding it has made available, pitting local areas against each other for a share of an inadequate pot.

“Allowing roughly half the country to miss out risks entrenching, and in some cases creating, a two-tier system in which bus services improve in one area while, across an invisible county border, they worsen or even disappear.”

Confederation of Passenger Transport found more than £10bn would have been needed to fully fund all of the bus service improvement plans, which outlined measures to make services cheaper, more frequent and more reliable.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority submitted a bid for £168m, but was given £70m. While City of York Council wanted £48m and got £17.4m.

Bids submitted by local leaders in North and South Yorkshire were rejected outright.

The committee said there has been a “managed decline” of bus services outside London, as the number of bus journeys fell by 15 per cent between 2010 and 2019.

It blamed fare rises, service cuts and poor reliability, as well as rises in car ownership, home working and online shopping.

Passenger numbers plummeted further during the pandemic, and have returned to just 80 per cent of the level recorded in 2019.

The Government has provided more than £2bn of support, to help operators across the country protect bus services during the pandemic.

Another £130m has been promised, to allow operators cap single fares at £2 until the end of June, and the committee welcomed this move but said the Government “needs to do more”.

Committee Chair Iain Stewart said: "It would be absurd to have spent billions supporting the ailing bus sector through the pandemic, and then see services decline.

"The £2 fare scheme was a great innovation, but ministers must continue to support the sector as it builds a new network fit for the post-pandemic world.”

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: “We remain committed to delivering the National Bus Strategy, and are providing the largest investment in a generation with £3bn committed for buses this Parliament."