Local Bus Services: Funding

Sharon Hodgson Excerpts

Wednesday 17th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

I am pleased to have secured this debate on Government funding of our local bus services. Millions of people rely on bus services every day to get to work, to seek healthcare or even just to visit the shops for a day out. This affects very many parts of the country, not just my constituency of Blaydon or the north-east. The state of bus services is an issue that comes up repeatedly, particularly post covid. It matters to individuals and communities, which is why I have raised this issue in Westminster Hall, in a previous Adjournment debate and at Prime Minister’s questions. I will continue to do so in the future.

The purpose of the debate, when I applied for it, was to ask the Government to address the fundamental issue of how we move from a series of welcome but short-term funding extensions, principally through the bus recovery grant, to a more stable and long-term plan to ensure that we do not see further reductions in bus services. That plan should take us through to the introduction of bus service improvement plans and the actions needed to make positive improvements to our bus services.

We cannot afford cliff edge after cliff edge at quarterly intervals, with bus operators issuing notices of service reductions and constant uncertainty for passengers about whether or not they will get to work or college or visit family, as has been the situation recently. Funding continues be impacted by low bus patronage, which is still at less than 80%, with a particular reduction in bus pass users. I note that, in this morning’s statement, the Minister said that patronage rates were back up to 90%. That is not a figure I recognise for the north-east, having checked it.

The impact of low patronage is both reduced income to bus operators and costs for local councils, via local transport authority support to maintain those vital bus services. I think of the maintained service to Kibblesworth in my constituency, which would have lost its only bus link had our local transport authority not stepped in. Kibblesworth is only five miles from Newcastle city centre—the same distance from Westminster to Canary Wharf—but it could have been left isolated by bus operator proposals. The Minister will know of many other instances of services affected, as we share a number of bus routes through our constituencies. Buses through Blaydon run through other parts of County Durham. What a coincidence that we had an oral statement on this issue this afternoon, before this debate.

I remind the House of the practical effects of the bus reductions. Jen and Frances are two constituents who have been in touch regularly because their lives have been drastically affected by recent changes to the bus services. They have told me how they used to get on the first bus that came into the terminal to have a day out in a random area and get to know the region better. Sadly, following the recent changes, that is no longer a possibility, as cuts and short-term cancellations have left them with no confidence in the bus services matching up and taking them where they want to go.

Eleanor, a student midwife, has told my office of her difficulties getting to and from work with a reduced service, meaning that no buses are running when she starts or finishes her shift. Another constituent, an older woman, used to travel between Consett in the Minister’s constituency and Greenside in mine, changing buses in Chopwell, to visit her grandchildren. Now the bus times are so far apart, her only option is to rely on lifts or not travel at all.

For all those people, I was grateful to have the opportunity to raise those issues directly in the House on previous occasions. But problems still affect bus services all over the country. Without further intervention, they could lead to drastic cuts to services across the entire bus network. Bus companies and local authorities need to be able to plan effectively. We need proper solutions so that customers can have confidence in their bus services, and we need a plan that allows the sector to thrive and to move forward. On top of that, we need to superimpose the work to be taken forward through bus service improvement plans.

In the north-east, we have successfully bid for bus service improvement plan money. Changes are already happening in the north-east, through the work that Transport North East is doing with the bus service improvement plan funding. We were successful in a bid for £163.5 million, of which an initial £117.8 million has been received. Transport North East has begun to use that money to transform the local transport offer in the north-east. It has already implemented a £1 fare for travellers who are 21 and under, as the Minister will know, and a £3 day ticket allowing people to travel across all Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham in a cost-effective manner. It is working on plans to introduce park and ride facilities, improved fares for all travellers and bus priority measures to speed up journey times and improve reliability. We know that good work is going on, but there is no getting around the fact that the Government have presided over a spiral of decline in our bus services that has failed communities.

In “Bus Back Better: national bus strategy for England”, published in 2021, the Government promised

“great bus services for everyone, everywhere”

and services

“so often that you don’t need a timetable.”

But the total number of miles driven by buses has plummeted by 175 million in the last five years, with 1,000 services lost in the last year alone. That is the context in which we received the Government’s statement earlier today, which laid out a new two-year funding settlement. So instead of continuing with my planned speech, I would like to take the opportunity to ask the Minister a series of questions about his statement.

[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)]

Before my hon. Friend moves on to her questions, can I intervene?

[Liz Twist]

Of course.

[Mrs Hodgson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Does she agree that, once we get the combined authority and the elected Mayor for the whole region, one of the things we might be able to do is to re-regulate the integrated transport services, as the Mayor of Manchester has done? That might be what we eventually need to do to be able to fix some of the problems we see with our bus services.

[Liz Twist]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. Yes, absolutely, that is the case. Although in Transport North East we have currently opted for an enhanced partnership, with the way that bus services are developing and routes are being dropped, that may well be something that we should look at in the future.

First, I note that the Minister stated that he spoke to Councillor Martin Gannon, chair of the North East Joint Transport Committee, prior to making his statement in the House this afternoon. He will be aware then of Councillor Gannon’s concerns that the amount being provided nationally to protect bus services seems to have shrunk significantly. While capped fares are welcome, they will not be much use to people if they cannot actually get on a bus in the first place, which is too often the case for many of the Minister’s constituents and mine. And once bus services are cut, it is practically impossible to get them reinstated, so I agree with Councillor Gannon.

Of course, capped fares are welcome, not least as a means of driving up bus patronage again, which in itself will sustain bus services, but will the Minister explain how the money announced this afternoon will be distributed? What is the plan after 2024, once the review mentioned in the Minister’s statement has been carried out? What criteria will be used?

What projections does the Department have for the number of services that are likely to be lost over the course of the new two-year settlement? How many of those will be in the north-east? The Minister will know—indeed, he said as much this afternoon—that that level of bus recovery grant and local transport authority support will not sustain all the bus routes we currently have. We need those bus routes. I note from his statement that the additional funding to local transport authorities will be to those that did not receive bus service improvement plan funding. Will he confirm whether that is correct? How will that affect Transport North East?

On the £140 million announced for the bus service operators grant, to be delivered over what I believe is one year and nine months, the Minister will be aware that that is not enough to maintain services at current levels, including in our region. I asked him this afternoon how many routes he would be prepared to see go. Can he confirm how that money will be allocated to bus operators and what criteria will be used to determine the distribution? How will the operators and passengers in my constituency, and indeed in his and across the north-east, be affected by the funding? How will local transport authorities be able to cover the gaps in essential services that will follow those cuts? I should make it clear that I am not here to argue the corner of private bus operators; I am here to argue for reliable, quality bus services for my constituents who rely on buses to get about.

Finally, let me ask the Minister this: do not the changes announced today leave the national bus strategy in tatters? Money that was earmarked for proposed new infrastructure, fare pricing and routes appears to have been subsumed into a plan for just keeping our bus services going, rather than a plan to make bus services a really attractive option. I am, of course, very glad that Transport North East was successful in its bid for BSIP funding, but I am disappointed that we will not now see some of the positive improvements for which we had hoped and planned.

As I have said, my constituents want to see a bold and transformed bus offer with improved reliability, improved fares and better connectivity, but I fear that the funding announcements made today will not produce that result. We need to build a plan that helps every community to move forward with reliable transport, and, as the Minister knows and as he heard earlier today, Labour has a plan to do just that. We are promising the biggest reform to the bus system in 40 years, which would put the power back where it belongs—in the hands of the communities who depend on buses the most. The Government must follow suit if they are to revive confidence in bus ridership and help to build that bold and transformational plan for the future.

I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response to my questions. I hope very much that he will note the concern that is felt for our bus services, and explain how he intends to ensure that our constituents do not lose any more vital services.