£70m bus improvement plan from West Yorkshire Combined Authority should focus on 'bread and butter', says councillor

Earlier this year, West Yorkshire Combined Authority was provided with almost £70m from Government over three years to develop a Bus Service Improvement Plan. It fell short of the £168m the Authority had been seeking.

A condition of the funding was that it be used to improve services and attract more bus users – not just keep the status quo.

One of the first announcements on how this money would be spent came earlier this month when West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin announced she was capping bus fares in the region at £2 per single journey. The maximum people would pay for a day ticket would be reduced to £4.50.

Money would also be spent on introducing new bus routes in areas where they are most needed.

At a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority on Friday, members were given an update on the improvement plan.

A report breaking down where the money is being spent revealed that the £2 fare cap will cost £24m over three years.

Introducing new services would cost £13.5m over three years.

During the meeting, some councillors pointed out that reduced income for bus operators and driver shortages meant some key services were being cut.

One questioned whether this improvement funding might be better spent on retaining existing services.

Wakefield councillor Kevin Swift (Lab) said: “If you have got basic services being threatened, then the notion of a pot of money being provided to provide nice cake with cream on top when you’re losing bread and butter services is something people might not agree with.

“I often get people come to me and ask why we’re spending X amount on the Hepworth Gallery when we should be filling potholes. I tell them it all comes out of separate funding, but the public don’t always see it like that.

“I don’t think the public will be very interested in nice things we’ll get in the bus service improvement plan if the things they consider essential are being given the chop.”

Director of transport services Dave Pearson said the money was intended only to improve services, not continue the status quo.

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But he added: “The Government seem to be slightly changing their position, and seem to say money can be used in the short term to prop up services.

“It could be some services that become unviable could get short term funding support.”

He said the hope was that bus patronage increased enough as a result of the improvements that they could be maintained once the three-year funding period ended.

He added: “There is a big push to get people back on the bus.”

Despite lockdown restrictions being lifted, bus patronage is still only 83 per cent of what it was before the pandemic.