Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in the number of bus services since 2019.

The policies of this government have significantly protected bus services from the impact of Covid-19.

The Government provided over £2 billion in emergency and recovery funding from March 2020 to June 2023 to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. Due to this funding, bus service provision in England outside London remained at over 85% of pre-COVID levels in 2021/22, despite patronage dropping to 10% of pre-pandemic levels during the height of the pandemic.

We recently announced a long-term approach to protect and improve bus services backed by an additional £300 million from July 2023 until April 2025. £140 million of this funding will go to bus operators to support services, and the remaining £160 million will go to Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) to protect and enhance bus services, and support local fares initiatives.

This funding is in addition to the over £1 billion the Government is providing to 34 counties, city regions and unitary authorities to help local areas level up their bus services and deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans. We also make available up to £259 million every year for bus operators and LTAs to keep fares down and run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation through the Bus Service Operators Grant.