Ministers unveil further subsidies for UK bus industry

Ministers have extended pandemic subsidies to the UK’s bus industry for another six months, following warnings that swaths of the network would be closed down without further government support.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps on Friday announced the further £130mn, saying the cost of living crisis made it “more important than ever” to save vital routes.

Friday had marked the deadline for operators to outline the service levels they expected to provide once the existing bailout expired in October, with passenger numbers still down roughly 15 per cent nationally compared with 2019 levels and costs up by “at least” 20 per cent, according to Graham Vidler, chief executive of the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, an industry body.

“We have got this big gap opening up between the way the network used to work and the way it works now,” said Vidler, adding that even with some increases to ticket prices, fares “don’t fill that gap”. Without an extension, about a tenth of the network may have disappeared, he said.

The government had insisted that no further extension would be provided, but Shapps on Friday said the subsidies’ extension would “ensure millions across the country can continue to use vital bus services, and brings the total we’ve provided to the sector throughout the pandemic to almost £2bn”. 

“At a time when people are worried about rising costs, it’s more important than ever we save these bus routes for the millions who rely on them,” he added.

Metro mayors outside London, where services are deregulated almost everywhere, had raised concerns about a “cliff edge” looming for services in October, particularly in rural and deprived areas, should subsidy run out.

South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard last month warned that, without further subsidy, the network reduction could be as high as 30 per cent in his area, after struggling to find operators to take on routes when services were retendered this summer.

West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, who in a joint letter from northern civic leaders to government last weekend said some of her communities could be cut off entirely, welcomed the latest extension as evidence that “mayors can be powerful voices to advocate for their region”. 

“We’ve been clear that government inaction would have decimated vital bus services and pushed people on to more expensive forms of transport [at] a time they can afford it least,” she said.

Public transport passengers faced further disruption on Friday, with the London Underground and Overground networks and some bus services in the capital hit by the latest in a wave of strikes.

There will be a second 24-hour walkout on the UK’s railways on Saturday, after Thursday’s action brought many services to a standstill.

Shapps called on heads of the RMT and TSSA unions to put an offer from Network Rail, equivalent to a pay rise of 8 per cent over two years, to members to end the dispute over pay, job security and working practices.

He said the government and industry would otherwise push ahead with consultations on forcing through reforms, including making Sunday a regular working day, with a view to “impos[ing] . . . sensible and common sense” changes.

The Department for Transport said that “while we still encourage RMT to join talks and find a solution . . . it’s clear now that no deal was ever going to be good enough for the RMT, and they have left Network Rail no choice but to go ahead with these essential modernisations”.

In response, unions said the measures amounted to a threat to fire and rehire staff.