Death of the local bus: 199 routes hit in a year
COUNCILS are causing the ‘slow death’ of local buses with budget cuts, a report warns today.
Some 199 routes were altered or withdrawn in the last year alone, the analysis shows.
Funding has almost halved over the past eight years for buses that rely on help from councils, according to the Campaign for Better Transport. Its report reveals that 3,088 of these ‘ supported bus services’ have been reduced, altered or withdrawn since 2010/11.
Local authorities’ bus budgets in England and Wales were slashed by £20.5million last year – the eighth consecutive annual cut. They have decreased by £182million, or 45 per cent, over the last eight years, the report says. Of the 199 routes affected last year, most were in the NorthWest (77), followed by the East of England (45) and Yorkshire and Humber (44).
A spokesman for the Campaign for Better Transport said: ‘The slow death of the supported bus continues.’
They added that bus cuts would isolate the elderly in rural areas and lead to greater reliance on cars.
The Local Government Association insisted councils were ‘desperate’ to protect local routes, but savings must be made to fund other services such as social care.