'Not acceptable!": Calderdale councillor hits out as fears grow over bus service cuts in West Yorkshire

Seven services are likely to be withdrawn by operators in April, if the government subsidies they’ve been receiving since 2020 are cut off next month as scheduled.

A further 35 bus routes are likely to be altered, partially cut or have their timetables slashed if the funding is pulled.

The list of services potentially affected will not be made public until the end of this week, as the plans have yet to be finalised.

But at a West Yorkshire Combined Authority transport committee meeting, councillors were told that there were just days left to effectively rescue those services.

Dave Pearson, WYCA’s director of transport, told the meeting bus operators who intend to make changes or reductions in their services must register them and make them formal by Friday.

“We are facing a bit of a cliff-edge in that regard. We’ve had discussions with bus operators and those are continuing this week.

“Government officials say they are working on something but nothing is forthcoming.”

Mr Pearson hinted that the government may unveil more support for the bus industry in next month’s budget, but said if nothing else was pledged by the Department of Transport in the meantime, it would be too late to save the services at risk now.

He suggested another possibility was that the current funding was given a “temporary” three-month extension, but warned that the local industry needed a year’s worth of money to “stabilise the network”.

The government set up emergency funding for bus operators in April 2020, to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic on passenger numbers.

That was due to expire in October last year, but was given a stay of execution following a plea from regional mayors, including West Yorkshire’s Tracy Brabin.

Although bus patronage in parts of West Yorkshire is now around 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, operators say they can’t afford to keep some services running without state help, with the industry still grappling with a driver shortage.

Calderdale councillor Jane Scullion said it was “almost unbelievable that we’re in this position”, weeks away from the end of March.

She said: “I don’t often say this, but I feel for Arriva, for First and the other bus companies, because they don’t know where they’re going to be…..it’s just not acceptable.”

The transport committee chair and Labour leader of Bradford City Council, Susan Hinchcliffe said the government’s “hand-to-mouth” approach on bus funding wasn’t working.

She said: “We don’t know if the government will give us or the operators any more funding or not. We hear different things coming out of the Department of Transport all the time.

“This dithering really makes it impossible for us to plan. It’s impossible for passengers to know if they can get to school, leisure or work."

“To have this on the back of the other cuts that happened last year will be devastating for our economy.”

The Department of Transport said it was working closely with the sector to offer targeted support and that it had ploughed £2billion into the bus network across the country over the last three years.

A spokesperson said: “We’ve been driving the bus sector forward with £2 billion in support and invested £60 million to cap single tickets at £2, helping to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and maintain services.”