A bus boss has denied a “brutal slice and dice” of the North East’s public transport network after a swathe of cuts came into force.
Reduced timetables on dozens of Go North East services across County Durham, Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside, and parts of the Tyne Valley in Northumberland began operating last Sunday, July 24. The latest blow for passengers came after routes in Newcastle and North Tyneside were also slashed earlier this year, while other bus operators are expected to follow suit in the coming months.
But Martijn Gilbert, managing director of Go North East, told councillors on Thursday that the cuts were needed to reflect a shift to more people working from home and other post-pandemic changes to living patterns, with bus passengers levels having stabilised at roughly 75% of pre-Covid rates. While some routes deemed not profitable enough for private bus companies to run have been saved by local authorities, including to the village of Kibblesworth which faced having no buses whatsoever, many have still been slashed.
