SOUTH YORKSHIRE'S MAYOR WELCOMES BUS FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT

Published 22 August 2022 at 10:55am

Reacting to the news that the government will extend emergency bus funding, South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said:

“Again and again I have called on the government to urgently work with me to save our bus network. So, despite the monumental U-turn, I’m glad they have finally listened to the demands from Northern Mayors and realised extending this financial support is the right thing to do. This support was essential during the worst of the Covid pandemic, and now the cost-of-living crisis demands a similar level of urgency and support. Because many people across our community who rely on our bus network are living scared of what the near future will bring.

“My worry is that it is too little and has come too late for South Yorkshire, and the damage is already done. Our community needs a proper rescue plan for a bus system that has been broken long before the pandemic, not another sticking plaster that pushes the cliff edge into January. The government’s political point scoring - temporarily picking up the tab for bus companies to delay their cuts for a few months while the Tory’s save face - does not make the crisis facing public transport in South Yorkshire and across the North go away.

“While Westminster has been ignoring our region, bus companies have already made the decision to cut hundreds of services. This latest, last-minute funding will postpone these cuts for a time but they won’t disappear. Yet again, we will fall victim to a broken system which is failing passengers, because of an un-coordinated, inefficient and incoherent national approach to bus funding – and the latest, all too predictable failure in the government’s flagship Levelling Up agenda.

“I’ve said I’ll do everything I can to keep our buses going until I get sufficient powers and money I need to transform the network. We’ve stepped in with emergency money to support school buses, we’re asking for people’s views to make sure we’re making the most effective use of the money we have - to pay for services where communities rely on them the most - and I’m moving as fast as the law currently allows to assess bringing in more public control through an assessment of franchising.

“I’ll stick to my promises, but it is not enough. I have asked government for £40 million per year to cover the cost of the cuts we’re facing and keep services going, and £85m over three years to improve tickets and fares, while the franchising assessment is going through. That’s because it would allow us to save vital bus routes that our communities desperately rely on to get to work, visit family, get to school and college. And it would mean that private bus companies wouldn’t have the power to strip those services from passengers.

“Devolved and sustained investment in our buses is critical for our region and I have made it clear we want nothing less than to stand on our own two feet – to play a full part in the future of a country that offers equal opportunity to all our communities.”