The Government has announced a £400 million funding package to assist bus operators in England during the Coronovirus emergency. With passenger numbers - and revenue - having fallen by 90% across the nation and likely to remain that way until things return to normal, many bus companies were struggling to keep going and wondering just how they could survive without government help.
£167 million of the fund is completely new money and will be paid directly to operators in return for them continuing to provide sufficient services to allow essential journeys to be made. The money will be available over the next twelve weeks, after which, no doubt, it will be reviewed.
A further £200 million is in the form of the existing Bus Service Operators Grant. This is a payment already made to operators to compensate them for part of the additional cost of paying duty on the fuel they use. As such, it is based on the number of journeys operated and with the service cuts now in place would have been reduced accordingly. It will now continue to be paid to bus companies as if no service cuts had been made.
Lastly, the £30 million grant made to local councils to provide new and enhanced services, of which Lancashire received £750,000 will now be used to keep existing services operating and compensating operators for the loss of revenue they are experiencing.
These measures, along with moves by local councils to continue paying bus companies for accepting concessionary bus passes as if there had been no reduction in passengers and also continuing to honour contract payments for school buses no longer required will hopefully provide a base level of income to keep operators afloat until normal times return.
