01 February 2002
A survey of 70 councils by the Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers (Atco) revealed that a 10.8% budget increase was needed to help local authorities run services abandoned as unprofitable by commercial bus operators.
Atco chairman Martin Robertson said he appreciated that operators could not afford to run services at a loss but warned that people on lower incomes would suffer if the equivalent of 5,000 journeys a day were scrapped.
He told Public Finance: 'We understand the business pressures operators work under but by making cuts they leave us with a problem of social exclusion.'
Labour has committed itself to increasing bus use by 10% over the course of its ten-year transport plan. Robertson warned that the rise in bus use in the capital might obscure problems elsewhere.
'This is a national problem,' he said. 'The government must make sure we receive long-term sustained revenue funding or there is a danger that London, which has a completely different situation, will be the only place where more people are using buses.'
The chairs of the six English passenger transport authorities met transport minister John Spellar on January 29 to call for increased funds to help the bus industry.
A Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions spokesman said the government was addressing the decline in bus use as part of the ten-year plan and pointed to the 50% increase in the rural bus subsidy grant to £136m over the next three years.
PFfeb2002
