COVID BUS FUNDING EXTENDED TO MARCH - BUT NO FURTHER

 

Coronavirus restrictions have led to fewer passengers.

The UK government has announced a further tranche of Covid Bus Service Support Grant to help keep England's buses running. However, the money comes with a warning that this will be the last payment operators can expect to receive, with the Grant coming to an end by April 2022.

Fears over services and fares

The end of funding raises fears for the future of service levels and fares.

After bus use plummeted and operators lost 90% of their passengers in March 2020, the government stepped in to provide emergency funding to keep services operating.  Initially expected to run for a twelve-week period, the funding had to be extended a number of times with the current installment ending in August 2021.

The latest announcement extends funding until April 2022, but at a lower level to reflect the recovery of passenger numbers in recent months. The government has also made it clear that there will be no further extensions.

The funding comes with government controls over service levels and fares, In the early days of the pandemic, bus operators were required to run no more than 50% of normal services. This was then gradually increased so that currently a 100% service level is expected. Meanwhile, fares have been frozen - and no dividends have been allowed to be paid - since April last year.

Fully Commercial

From next April, the government expects the bus industry to return to fully- commercial operation, albeit acting in "Enhanced Partnerships" with local authorities to deliver improved services under the National Bus Strategy for England. These Partnerships are supposed to be able to attract government funding from a different pot through the implementation of Bus Service Improvement Plans, although details of this and of the amounts that might be available, have not yet been made known. What is clear is that bus operators will still have to act commercially within the Partnerships and the end of Covid Bus Service Support Grant emphasises that fact. 

But how easy will it be for them to do so? The recovery of ridership,having risen gradually over the Spring, appears to have stalled at about two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels. Bus industry commentators don't expect passenger numbers to exceed 80% of pre-pandemic levels for some considerable time to come, so bus companies and local authorities will be anxiously awaiting the outcome of the submission of the Bus Service Improvement Plans and to hear how much funding they will receive.

Fares to Rise?

The onset of the pandemic came just before Stagecoach's  planned 2020 fares increase, which was therefore never implemented.  By next April, the company's fares will not have risen for three years, whereas in previous years there have been increases of between 5 and 10%

The National Bus Strategy contains an aspiration for lower and simpler fares, but with bus companies expected to act fully commercially and with fares three years out-of-date it is difficult to how this can be achieved.

The Bus Users' Group will be watching with interest.

SCHOOL BUS UNDER THREAT

 

Archway Travel school service S24 is due to finish at the end of term

Parents in the Marsh area of Lancaster, whose children attend Central Lancaster High School, have started a campaign to save their school bus.

The bus is under threat of withdrawal by Lancashire County Council because none of the children who use it are entitled to free transport to-and-from school and the revenue from those children who do use doesn't cover the cost of operation.

The Bus Users' Group doesn't normally concern itself with home-to-school transport buses, which are not available for use by the general public, but we feel the S24 Marsh to Central Lancaster High School service is different.  Despite its official status as a school contract service, in practice it is much more akin to a scheduled bus. Indeed, it's hard to see why it is a school contract in the first place.

Central Lancaster High School

Council Responsibility

The County Council has a responsibility to provide home to school transport for children attending their nearest school and living at least 4.8km (3 miles) away (less for younger children). The distance from the farthest part of the S24 route to the school is closer to 3.2km (2 miles) so most children wouldn't seem to qualify in the first place. The Council does make exceptions and will provide free transport for children from low-income families or for certain other reasons. It's possible, therefore, that at one time sufficient children from Marsh did qualify for free transport, although if that was the case then it's hard to see why it's not the case now.

Surprise

The announcement has taken the parents and the school by surprise, coming just a few weeks before the end of term. However, Lancashire County Council says that it gives at least one year's notice of school bus withdrawals and insists that this was done in the case of the S24.

The decision was originally taken in July 2019 and the service would not have resumed for the new school year in September 2020. However, early in 2020 the government stepped in with special funding to keep school buses running during the Covid pandemic and the county council took advantage of this to keep the S24 running for a further year.  That funding will not be continued for the coming school year so the council has decided to implement its earlier decision.

Campaign

Parents, led by local City and County Councillors, have started a campaign to save the bus, as the alternative would require the children to catch two buses to get to school and leave home up to half-an-hour earlier in the morning.  The Bus Users' Group is advising the campaign and wishes them every success.

The bus is one of ten such services proposed for withdrawal across Lancashire County Council's area and the savings expected would appear to be minimal - an average of £52.60 per bus per day. It also seems wrong that the council is proposing to axe bus services at the same time as it is preparing a submission to government under the National Bus Strategy for England for a share of £3 billion of funding to improve bus services and increase ridership!

The campaign has started a petition to save the S24, which you can sign here: Link to Petition