Drive for regular rural buses from 6am to midnight

Charity warns of £2.7bn cash shortfall

RURAL bus services need far greater investment from the Government to be fit for purpose in the future, a charity report has warned.

The CPRE, which campaigns on countryside issues, called for every village to have a bus service every hour between 6am and midnight with a £1 flat fare.

An extra £2.7bn a year is needed in rural investment on top of £3bn of new bus funding already promised by the Government, the CPRE said.

The charity is lobbying the Government to instead divert funds from its £27bn road-building scheme to pay for more buses.

It has pointed to Switzerland as a blueprint which the Government should follow, where every village is guaranteed an hourly service seven days a week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched his National Bus Strategy last week, setting out ambitions to introduce London-style daily price caps across bus services, an increase in evening and weekend services, and rolling out contactless payment across all buses.

But the CPRE said funding commitments given in the strategy fall short of the demand.

Transport Minister Grant Shapps is to meet local authority leaders in Yorkshire this week to discuss bus funding plans, after it was confirmed that the county is not set to benefit from the first tranche of handouts in a rural mobility grant scheme.

The CPRE’s analysis showed council spending on buses fell by an average of 53.5 per cent across Yorkshire between 2009 and 2019.

The charity’s chief executive, Crispin Truman, said: “Rural communities up and down the country know from painful firsthand experience the impacts of underfunding our bus services.

“Too many have been languishing in so-called transport deserts where those who do not have access to a car are left high and dry with no practical way to get to work, school or doctors.

“Public transport for rural communities has been wholly inadequate for long enough.

“To avoid another situation where rhetoric doesn’t meet delivery, we’re calling on the Government to significantly raise the level of investment in our ailing bus services and recognise a universal basic right to public transport.

“Our research shows this investment will pay dividends – that’s why bigger bucks for buses is an absolute no brainer.”

North Yorkshire County Council’s leader, Carl Les, backed the findings of the report, but stopped short of saying he agreed every village across the county should have an hourly service seven days a week.

He said: “It is very important that we have rural connectivity, but we have to be realistic.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The National bus Strategy sets out bold plans for the most ambitious shake-up of the country’s bus network in generations and the Government has committed an unprecedented amount of funding to support it.”

Bigger bucks for buses is an absolute no brainer.

CPRE chief executive Crispin Truman.