Government bails out bus firms to keep routes open

[whole diary]

[grahame]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52122342

Government bails out bus firms to keep routes open

The government will cover the losses of bus companies in England over the next three months to ensure that services can still run.

The UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s bus industry says passenger numbers have "fallen off a cliff" since the government advised people against all non-essential travel.

That caused bus firms to cut services.

But a new £167m fund will ensure that bus companies can cover their costs on essential services so that key workers, like NHS staff, can get to work.

With people advised to stay at home, many buses around the UK are being driven around with no passengers on them at all.

CPT boss Graham Vidler said the funding would "plug the gap" between the costs of running essential routes and the income received by companies. He said that would allow "critical journeys to continue".

Government support is conditional on bus companies operating about half of their routes.

Operators have also pledged not to let buses carry more than 50% of their maximum capacity to ensure that social distancing is possible onboard.

Before the coronavirus outbreak the government had earmarked funding to reopen bus routes which had been cut in recent years. Some of that money is now being spent on keeping existing routes running.

[grahame]

Government support is conditional on bus companies operating about half of their routes.

Before the coronavirus outbreak the government had earmarked funding to reopen bus routes which had been cut in recent years. Some of that money is now being spent on keeping existing routes running.

Good news that there is some safeguarding - though noting it is commensurate on the bus companies keeping a limited network running;  "Limited Network" means no buses at all on certain routes and to certain stops.

It would also appear that money such as the £671,000 promised in Wiltshire for "re-opening bus routes" isn't going to be available for that purpose after all - the promised pot is to be plundered to subsidise existing services.  Not happy ....

[Reading General]

I think that getting bus services back up to the level they were before all this will be difficult. Most routes have such a narrow margin between make or break. There will be demand again of course but the uptake of people using bus services will be slow. It's time to rethink how public transport in the private sector is going to be subbed by public money. There is the possibility that returning to utility could have a decent effect on transport in the long run, and rethink the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s service stifling rules and regulations on bus services outside the capital. I do wonder what sort of condition London's bus services will be in compared to the rest of the nation after this has passed. Beyond the M25, I would prepare to be riding around on tired old buses for the next decade.

[Bryony]

This could really frustrate some of the rolling connectivity improvements to integration and seems shortsighted in terms of the necessary modal shift.  

I would be very interested to hear from our friends “in the know” on an area by area basis.

[Bryony]

I am given to believe that LA’s running many smaller operators remain inadequately to rewarded to maintain connectivity for communities nor survival of small operators unless there is an additional conversation happening about covid payments for LA somewhere?