Bus firms in region need bailout – MP

BUS operators in the North East could fall off a financial “cliff edge” in the coming months unless the Government provides an urgent bailout.

Local leaders have pleaded with the Treasury to extend Covid support funding that has propped up the ailing Tyne and Wear Metro network since the pandemic hit, but so far their requests have gone unanswered.

Blaydon MP Liz Twist raised the issue directly with transport ministers in a Westminster Hall debate last Thursday evening, warning that without continued support the North East bus network could be plunged into a “crisis”.

She said: “The end of Covid funding has been described as a cliff edge for our bus services, so I ask the Government to look again before the budget for the next financial year is set in January and to continue to fund emergency payments to Tyne and Wear Metro. “My constituents cannot afford their bus services to be reduced by 20% or even more.

“The villages, small towns and communities across the Blaydon constituency, such as Chopwell and Kibblesworth and all the places in between, need to retain their vital links to our towns, our health services and our other essential services.

“Any reduction in buses will make already difficult journeys impossible.

“We need action from the Government to prevent this bus funding crisis from hitting our communities. We really cannot afford to miss the bus. Action is needed now.”

Transport Minister Trudy Harrison told MPs that buses were “at the very centre” of the Government’s thinking on transport. She said: “Through the pandemic, more than £1.5bn has been announced to date.”

Pressed on whether any extra funding would be made available, she said: “We shall be announcing more details on how that funding will be announced very shortly.”