Bus services in England face cuts as end of Covid funding looms

theguardian.com:

Bus services across England could be axed within days, transport groups have said, as operators decide before a funding deadline whether routes will remain viable.

Services in the north-east and South Yorkshire are known to be at risk, but many more routes could be cut back as Covid grants that propped up routes during the pandemic expire.

Bus operators normally have to give six weeks’ notice before reducing services, and Covid recovery grants run out at the start of October. The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), which represents operators, said the coming week would be “critical” in reviewing what would keep running.

The grants were introduced to help sustain routes that had lost passengers during the pandemic. They were extended in the spring for a further six months with £150m tostave off feared widespread cuts to services, but the government warned that no further funding would be available.

The Urban Transport Group (UTG), a network of city region transport authorities, has highlighted “particularly drastic” cuts now expected in South Yorkshire, where 120 routes, one in three, are about to be reduced, and 51 could be axed altogether.

The UTG’s director, Jonathan Bray, said: “The buses are relied on by the poorest in society, without access to cars – if you are talking about the cost of living crisis, this is another blow to those people who already have the least.”

Despite the end of emergency funding, the government is in the process of awarding more than £1.1bn to selected authorities under its bus service improvement plan (BSIP). The controversial competition eventually saw fewer than half of applicants receive BSIP funding, which cannot be used to sustain existing route networks. Bray said: “It’s a bit crazy