A bus boss has admitted the service the public is getting is the “worst” in 40 years.
A national shortage of drivers and fall in passengers has been blamed for the bus crisis which has caused routes to be axed, delays and cancellations.
The elderly say they have been left shivering in the cold and “layering up” to cope with the extra bus stop waits.
While women told the Mirror they have been walking home in the dark after buses fail to show.
Currently there is a 9% vacancy rate for bus drivers in the UK and 15% vacancy rate for coach drivers according to the transport trade body.
Latest figures reveal a 20% decline in passenger journeys across Britain compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2018/19 – when services were already at their lowest levels since the 1980s.
First Bus’s Paul Matthews, boss of the West Yorkshire arm, told Leeds city councillors last week: “It’s the worst quality of service that’s been delivered in my 40 years in the industry, because of labour availability.”
On Friday a bus driver in Leeds told us how he also believes it is the worst bus crisis in his 36 years behind the wheel.
Dave Neville, a Unite member, points out the cancellations on the screen at Leeds City bus station, three out of 14 not running.
He said: “I’m proud of my job but it’s disheartening because I sympathise with the passengers here who sit and wait an hour and 10 minutes instead of 10.
“They have got to get to work or they don’t get paid, it can be annoying.
“But the drivers are getting more pay and better hours if they go to trucks.”
One of those passengers was Dr Joe Pawley, 29, who told the Mirror: “It has been an absolute nightmare lately. Me and my partner are always talking about it.
“She’s a social worker in Bradford and it’s a nightmare because she struggles to get anywhere. We are trying to cut down on our carbon footprint by not driving. But public transport is so unreliable maybe I’m going to have to drive.”
Lorraine Francis, aged 29, a product manager from Manchester, said she has noticed a reduction in buses in the evening and has ended up walking home. “It’s not the safest area,” she said.
Tara Cook, 39, relies on public transport to visit her mum regularly travelling from Scotland to Barton upon Humber, Lincs, by bus because it’s half the cost of a train. But recently a five-hour trip took her 12 hours. “It made me ill,” she
said. “I’ve got arthritis and I ended up bed-ridden for a week because of it.”
Speaking to Leeds councillors at a scrutiny meeting last Wednesday, Mr Matthews revealed bus patronage in his region was around 80% of 2019 levels.
He said: “If we run an unreliable service, rightly we get criticised.
“If we put the rates of pay up to what could be argued are market rates, we can’t put up our fares because we’d get criticised. We are in a no-win situation.”
Mr Matthews suggested shift patterns and “negativity” drivers face from frustrated passengers were as much to blame for the labour shortage.
But Unite national officer Bobby Morton said: “Until bus companies address the problem of low pay, long hours and shift patterns that prevent workers having a family life and leave them exhausted then new drivers won’t join and existing workers will leave.”
Passenger Eileen Firth, 86, from Allerton, West Yorks, said: “I have to put on extra clothes and layer up with a thick vest and loads of clothes because of the wait. It’s not very nice when it’s chucking it down with rain.”
- Ukrainian bus drivers in the country as refugees can exchange their licence for a UK version to help fill vacancies.
