The Levelling Up White Paper has set an aspiration to improve public transport outside London and identifies the need to close the UK’s productivity and the economic gap to alleviate the country’s geographical differences. Strong local bus networks will be at the core of both of these policy issues; good urban mobility, through a robust bus network, increases the number of workers who can access the places in which their jobs are located, particularly in city centres.
The statement in accompanying the Levelling Up White paper said this would “connect people to opportunity, improving local skills provision, or being able to act more flexibly and innovatively to respond to local need.” Transport will be helped by “improved services, simpler fares and integrated ticketing.”
The £3 billion national bus strategy, Bus Back Better published in March 2021 acknowledged the role of local buses in improving social cohesion to support the Government’s net zero agenda. Local authorities were also encouraged to publish Bus Service Improvement Plans which outline what can be done at a local level to make travelling by bus as attractive as possible.
However, reports that local authorities will now have only £1.4 billion to bid for from the original £3 billion will simply add to the uncertainty facing regions and bus operators.
Buses are the cornerstone of the Government’s future plans to decarbonise the way we travel, as set out in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan and also in the National Bus Strategy. Buses are a form of good public transport to deliver net zero agenda especially where electric vehicles and modal shift can’t be achieved. Transport regional and local authorities have warned funding cuts would affect city bus routes at risk to operate. Bus routes could be cut or completely lost to connect communities with city centres, employments and with other vital services.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport, which represents operators, said the situation was urgent as almost a third of city bus routes could be cut within weeks without urgent government funding.
Local authorities are unlikely to be able to find money to maintain routes requiring subsidies, typically those in rural or isolated communities and those running outside peak hours. Also, with ongoing debate for proportionality of rail infrastructure investment for North to unlock the economy, investment in buses is vital for both city and rural routes across the country to “level up”.
Zeenara Najam
i-Select Consultancy
