A “tsunami” of cuts to bus services for most of the North East is on hold for now – but passengers in Newcastle and North Tyneside will not be so lucky.
It has been expected that the region’s bus operators would be making major cutbacks to routes across the area, equating to up to 17% of their mileage, due to a funding crisis amid reduced passenger numbers caused by the pandemic. But many under-threat routes appear to have been given a temporary stay of execution, after a new government funding announcement earlier this month.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced on March 1 that the Government would bow to pressure to extend Covid emergency grant funding by offering more than £150m to bus and light rail operators in England, propping them up until October this year. While it is still unknown how much of that money will come to the North East, council leaders were told on Tuesday that the promise of some extra relief was enough to allow Go North East, Stagecoach, and Arriva to press pause on many proposed cuts that were expected to come into force in May.
Read More: Full list of all bus routes being cut in Newcastle and North Tyneside amid transport crisis
However, it is already too late for communities in North Tyneside and Newcastle that are due to be hit with a series of reductions later this month. More than 30 routes across the two patches, including some which also run into south east Northumberland, will be affected – including the popular Q3 route, which will stop running to Walker and Wallsend.
Transport North East managing director Tobyn Hughes said that it was now too late to stop those changes being enacted and warned that passengers elsewhere should still expect significant service reductions come October, as ridership levels are unlikely to have returned to pre-Covid rates by then. It is feared that the cuts, labelled the biggest change to local bus services for 35 years, will mean fewer early morning or late night services, reduced access to city centres, and some outlying communities being cut off entirely.
Mr Hughes told the North East Joint Transport Committee (JTC): “Having had discussions with local bus operators, we understand that the Government announcement has led to local operators putting on hold any further reductions to bus services in the next few months. While they have been contemplating some, while the funding has been extended they are putting them on hold. However, it is regrettably too late for Newcastle and North Tyneside, where changes have already been registered.”
The news comes after Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham announced plans to cap bus fares in his area at £2 per journey, under a new franchise system that will see local authorities take back control over services. South Tyneside councillor Jim Foreman urged the JTC to pursue a similar arrangement in the North East as private operators “only answer to one God and that is profit”, and was told that any such move would not be possible without a new devolution deal granting the region new powers over transport.
JTC chair and Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon warned that without extra resources for public transport before the Government’s latest grant end date in October, there will be a “tsunami of cuts” to local bus services.
Go North East boss Martijn Gilbert, who chairs the North East bus operators’ association NEbus, said: “The bus sector has welcomed the extension of some form of Covid recovery support, reflecting recent setbacks in passenger recovery from the Omicron variant and Plan B restrictions, however there are parts of the bus network which were poorly performing prior to the pandemic and are now even worse given the notable changes in travel patterns as people adopt new ways of working, shopping and more.
“This has exaggerated the position of a small number of services such as those in North Tyneside where changes have been worked on since late last year. These particular services are loss making even with the current support and there is very little prospect of them recovering sustainably in the foreseeable, so it is important to ensure that services are adapted in line with changing and expected demand.
“Nexus were already at an advanced stage with their process to procure replacement services which ensure that the affected communities still have access to some form of bus service and they are also making some changes to their own supported contract services in the area from the same date, aligned to the expiry of existing contracts unrelated to Covid and the funding, so both bus operators and Nexus have agreed to continue with the previous plans which will come into effect from Sunday March 27, 2022.”
