A local councillor has said one of the region's leading bus operators must improve after a significant funding boost from central Government.
The North East will benefit from a new fleet of electric buses alongside extra charging points after an investment of £19.5 million through the levelling up fund was secured.
The bid was developed in partnership by Transport North East on behalf of the North East Joint Transport Committee, Arriva North East, Go North East, Stagecoach and the seven local authorities.
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Coun Gordon Stewart, who represents Prudhoe South on Northumberland County Council, recently criticised Go North East after residents reported being left stranded by short-notice cancellations on the Tyne Valley 10 service. Coun Stewart said he still had concerns about basic service levels and safety of the public.
He said: "I welcome the Government announcement regarding £19.5m injection of taxpayers' money into the public transport service. Coming so closely after the bus fare cap scheme, I sincerely hope this will quickly improve the basic service for residents.
"I continue to receive complaints about people being stranded sometimes without means or facilities to get them home or to work, putting them into danger due to extremely cold conditions or other factors.
"Businesses are also suffering as employees are delayed, the basics of providing public transport has to be ensuring they are on time and reliable, when cancellations or delays are inevitable the residents should be kept informed and assurances that no one is left stranded.
"Work still needs to be done to proactively recruit more drivers. I have spoken to several Go North East employees who are frustrated and worried about the service being provided to the public at this time."
The company has been putting short notice cancellations in place for some time, with updates provided on its website. The cancellations are blamed on a "national shortage" of bus drivers as well as higher levels of sickness absence.
Responding to Coun Stewart's remarks, a spokesman for Go North East said: "Like many bus operators, Go North East have suffered operationally in recent times due to a national shortage of bus drivers following the Covid pandemic. We have been working tirelessly to address this issue and are now seeing much better results.
"This is improving our service delivery across the network. We know there is still a way to go to reach the expectations of our customers and we are putting all our efforts towards achieving that.’
"With regard to the £20m funding. This has been won by TNE as a bid from the Levelling up fund, and they are aiming to use it for installation of more electric bus fleet across the region. This was covered in local media last week. 52 new electric buses are expected to be deployed across the three largest operators in the region."
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