Bus services in the North East are facing another tidal wave of drastic cuts, it is feared.
Transport chiefs predict that the region’s bus network will be slashed by as much as 20% in the coming months, with a Government grant to operators due to end on March 31, in what would be another bitter blow to the beleaguered public transport system. The “catastrophic” reductions would come on top of cutbacks in 2022 that saw bus companies reduce their mileage by 15%, meaning almost a third of the North East’s services would have been lost in the space of a year.
It would be yet more bad news for passengers who have complained of buses being regularly delayed or cancelled over recent months, amid driver shortages and industrial disputes, with more areas left with services that have been either severely reduced or axed completely. Politicians and bus operators have issued a plea for the Government to extend the Bus Recovery Grant funding, or else leave communities counting the cost of “inevitable” cuts and “significant” increases in ticket prices.
