Oxfordshire County Council calls on government to support bus industry

In a letter sent to the treasury and Department for Transport, Liz Leffman, leader of Oxfordshire County Council, warned about the impact of ending the Bus Recovery Grant (BRG), which is due to stop on March 31 2022.

While bus operators are private companies run for profit, during the pandemic they have relied heavily on BRG support from central government. This has enabled them to continue to provide the vast majority of services despite passenger numbers being much lower than it was before the crisis hit. However, this support has not taken into account the extended delay to the recovery caused by the Omicron variant and is ending too soon for bus use to return to financially viable levels.

This sudden threat to bus funding has prompted operators into action to protect their businesses. As a result, if no announcement on continued government financial support is forthcoming in the next few weeks, applications to cancel or severely reduce service levels on more than 40 bus routes in the county are expected to be submitted. This would run counter to the council’s ambitions of a comprehensive, effective and reliable bus network to provide an alternative to the car, and result in a number of urban and rural communities around Oxfordshire losing their services.

Cllr Leffman said: “An effective bus network is key to tackling congestion and is crucial for improving Oxfordshire’s environment. However, the scale of the potential cuts to commercial services is unprecedented, including all of Oxford's park and ride services, key routes serving the hospitals and several important rural routes. We need the government to step up and support the bus companies to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

“Local authorities, including Oxfordshire County Council, have worked closely with bus operators over the past two years to support them through the pandemic, in the expectation that the government’s National Bus Strategy would bring forward improvements and drive the national recovery. It would be devastating for this hard work to be undone through the removal of support before we hear the outcome of our Bus Service Improvement Plan and future funding for bus services.

“We are urging the government to maintain its existing funding package for the bus industry, including guidance on concessionary fares reimbursement, until at least March 2023 to allow time for a sustained patronage recovery, remove the immediate threat to funding, and avoid significant service cuts.”