Bus services are in peril

Good afternoon

A few months ago, we helped persuade the Chancellor to extend the emergency funding for English buses that was so vital through the pandemic. But that funding is due to end in October - and today is the deadline for bus operators to submit any cuts they plan to make.

We've published a new report which shows the devastating effect of the pandemic on bus provision in England. A massive 16 per cent of bus services were cut in the first year of the pandemic alone.

The National Bus Strategy, published last year, had big ambitions to reverse the decline in buses. But our report shows that these ambitions were not matched by sufficient funding. Local authorities had to compete for a too-small funding pot, and three in five of them missed out.

Buses haven't stopped being vital. They are still vital to cutting traffic and pollution. They are still vital to accessing work and education, including for the 35 per cent of low-income households that have no car. They are still vital to tackling loneliness, and enabling people to live full lives.

Help us put a stop to swingeing bus cuts. 

We're calling on the Government to move away from its current, fragmented and competitive way of funding buses, and replace it with a long-term funding settlement for all councils. We think it should start by reallocating money from carbon intensive transport, like road building, into buses.

You can help by telling us what buses mean to you and your community: please send your comment by filling in our simple form.

Another way to help is by making a donation to our campaigning. As a small charity we rely on donations from thousands of kind individuals.

Thank you.

Good bye till next time

Jess

Jess Fitch
Head of Digital Communications