New report forecasts one in five big city bus services gone by 2014

A new report for the Passenger Transport Executive Group (pteg) suggests there will be tough times ahead for urban bus services outside London, given government cuts to both local government funding and wider support for bus services.

The report forecasts that between 2009 and 2014 patronage will decline by 20 per cent; fares will increase by 24 per cent above the rate of inflation; and service kilometres will decline by 19 per cent.

Chair of the group, cllr Mark Dowd, said: “The scenario testing in this report gives an objective assessment of the likely impact of public spending reductions on bus services for the millions of passengers who rely on the bus in the largest urban areas outside London. It gives a clear warning that without policy change we face further vertiginous decline in bus services which will have significant impact on traffic congestion, social division, carbon emissions and on the ability of our cities to play their full part in rebalancing the national economy.”

Cllr Dowd added: “As Integrated Transport Authorities we have a big job to do in working with bus operators to ensure that these forecasts do not become reality. We are doing this through using new powers available in the Local Transport Act 2008 to improve services, through introducing smartcard ticketing, and through continuing to invest in better infrastructure for buses, like new interchanges and more bus lanes.

“However, we also need the government and the Competition Commission to do their bit by taking a long hard look at both current levels of support for bus services and how it can be most effectively deployed to make every pound count. A business as usual bus policy from government will mean bus service decline as usual – with the most vulnerable in our society the ones who will lose out. What this report shows is that without policy change from government we will be continually trying to run up a downward escalator of funding cuts.”

pteg represents the six Passenger Transport Executives (PTEs) and Integrated Transport Authorities (ITAs) serving eleven million people in the metropolitan areas of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear. Half of all bus trips outside London are made in these areas.