Buses are worth fighting for

Hello

We're fighting to save vital buses - can you help?

Buses do millions of important jobs every day. They connect us to college and work, friends and family. They make sure we can get to doctors' appointments, and help us carry our shopping home at the end of the day.

In recent months, hundreds of people have seen our campaign to save buses and got in touch to tell us what buses mean to them. People like Ann, who told us:

The good news is that we have helped convince the Government to extend the emergency funding that kept buses going through the pandemic. Most recently, it announced a further £130 million to support buses up to March 2023. This funding will undoubtedly save services for communities up and down the country.

The bad news is that even with this funding, buses face serious challenges. Our research showed that services were cut by 16 per cent in the first year of the pandemic alone. We've heard from many people sorely affected by these cuts, including Sarah, who told us:

We are appealing for donations so we can step up our fight to save buses and work for a greener, fairer transport future. Can you make a donation today, or even better, set up a regular donation?  A small monthly commitment really helps most as we can plan ahead.

If you have already donated, thank you so much. With your help, we can be a strong voice for public transport, and we can save buses.

How to save buses

The Government's National Bus Strategy, published last year, had big ambitions to reverse the decline in buses. It asked local transport authorities to develop Bus Service Improvement Plans in order to access funding. But in the end, only two in five local transport authorities received any of this funding at all.

We're campaigning for buses to be funded in a different way. Instead of asking local authorities to compete, the Government should put in place a long-term funding settlement for all councils. It should reallocate money from high-carbon transport, like road building, into a single funding pot for buses.

And it should follow the example of countries like Germany and Spain by cutting fares in response to the cost of living crisis. By capping bus fares at £2 for a limited time, the Government could help struggling households, encourage more people on board to help buses thrive, and cut traffic and carbon emissions too.

With your help, we'll campaign even more strongly to make this a reality.

Thank you very much for your help

Paul

Paul Tuohy, Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport