Government Funding for Better Bus Services is Failing to Achieve its Aims.

 

The Campaign for Better Transport has published analysis showing that the competitive system local authorities have to take part in to gain funding for improving bus services is disadvantaging smaller, often rural councils.

 

The analysis published on 1^st July, coinciding with the deadline for operators to submit any planned changes to services ahead of the withdrawal of COVID related recovery funding in October showed a consistent pattern of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’.

 

Sylvia Barrett of the Campaign for Better Transport said it had “uncovered a painful truth, that the Government’s policy of asking local authorities to compete for local transport funding is producing the same winners and losers time and again” [1].

 

The report Funding Local Bus Services in England [2] contains analysis showing that the 12 local authorities awarded the most government funding are all urban authorities, while 15 of the authorities receiving the least funding cover rural areas.

 

These findings are based on analysis of allocations of funding over the past decade by councils applying to government schemes including the Transforming Cities Fund, the Active Travel Fund, and the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

 

Sylvia Barratt said that all communities deserve a ‘reliable, regular and affordable’ bus service. However, a funding system that favours urban authorities with dedicated transport planning teams were unfairly advantaged.

 

She went on to say that the government needs to “move away from this fragmented and competitive way of funding and replace it with a long-term funding settlement for all transport authorities.”

 

Other findings published in the report include that over the past decade 5,000 bus routes have been cut. Further cuts are likely as bus usage is currently at 80% of what it was before March 2020, the Campaign for Better Transport warn this could contribute to a vicious circle of decline.

 

The £1.08 billion in Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding went to 31 Local Transport Authorities, just 40% of those who applied. This creates significant gaps and works against the creation of a national bus strategy promised by the government in 2019, details of which were eventually published in May 2021.

 

Being successful in applying for funding to transform bus services does not guarantee authorities get the amount they requested, many received less than half and some significantly less.

 

Commenting on the report Campaign for Better Transport Chief Executive Graham Vidler said it highlighted the “very different outcomes” experienced by local authorities when bidding for funding.

 

The Campaign for Better Transport are calling for an end to competitive funding and for money to be reallocated from carbon intensive transport policies like road building into a single funding pot accessible to all local authorities.

 

Graham Vidler said it was “time for Government to commit further, long-term funding to turn the ambition of the national bus strategy into tangible improvements for passengers everywhere."

 

[1] https://bettertransport.org.uk/new-analysis-finds-government-funding-intended-transform-buses-disadvantaging-rural-communities

[2] https://bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/Funding_local_bus_services_in_England_June_2022.pdf