Government needs to prop up bus services for another two years says transport expert

That’s according to West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA)’s head of transport services Dave Pearson, who told a meeting of Leeds city councillors this week that buses were currently running with half of the number of passengers that they would usually expect.

He added that bus operators’ finances were currently being plugged by local and national government but this would need to continue after the pandemic, as passenger numbers would be unlikely to return to normal levels for at least another two years.

Speaking about recovering numbers of bus passengers since the spring lockdown, Mr Pearson told a meeting of Leeds City Council’s infrastructure scrutiny board: “There was a higher increase in passengers in September when schools and colleges went back – it is levelling out at about 50 per cent of passengers.

“We are essentially seeing half the number of bus passengers that we would normally expect. Social distancing essentially halves the capacity of each bus. Buses can’t carry their full licensed number of passengers.

“We broadly have 100 per cent of the bus network running and half the people travelling. That creates a financial gap that has been plugged initially with the Government paying an additional grant to bus operators and transport authorities.

“The financial hole has been plugged, but only for temporary funding.”

He said Covid would cause a “long term impact” on travel behaviour, saying that some people have already altered the way they travel due as a result.

“If the public sector funding into buses comes to a premature end, then the bus industry will need to level out at a level of costs coming in,” he said.

“If the funding is withdrawn too early, we could be looking at withdrawal of services and job losses in the bus industry – that is a concern we all have.

“If government sees the end of social distancing as the end of emergency funding for the bus, I think we are clear that the bus passengers will not return in exactly the same numbers as they were in 2019 and there will be a funding gap to bridge.

“This is probably a two-year recovery period. Emergency funding needs to be there for the recovery after Covid restrictions are lifted.”

Councillors were warned that if recent trends for commuters working from home continued after the pandemic, it could financially damage bus services as this would “take the people who pay the most to travel by bus out of the system.”

He added: “We are heading into an economic recession caused by Covid – affordability to travel into work is a massive thing we are going to have to get into when the economy gets moving again.”