A “tsunami” of cuts to bus services for most of the North East is on hold for now – but passengers in Newcastle and North Tyneside will not be so lucky.
It has been expected that the region’s bus operators would be making major cutbacks to routes across the area, equating to up to 17% of their mileage, due to a funding crisis amid reduced passenger numbers caused by the pandemic. But many under-threat routes appear to have been given a temporary stay of execution, after a new government funding announcement earlier this month.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced on March 1 that the Government would bow to pressure to extend Covid emergency grant funding by offering more than £150m to bus and light rail operators in England, propping them up until October this year. While it is still unknown how much of that money will come to the North East, council leaders were told on Tuesday that the promise of some extra relief was enough to allow Go North East, Stagecoach, and Arriva to press pause on many proposed cuts that were expected to come into force in May.
