A Newcastle MP is calling on the Government to ‘level up’ bus transport in the north as she launches a campaign to improve bus services across the city.
Chi Onwurah highlighted how Newcastle's bus service is not meeting the needs of those who rely on it as she challenged the Government to do more to tackle the problem.
“If we are to meet our carbon emissions targets and improve air quality in Newcastle we need more people to leave the car at home, but constituents tell me buses are too expensive and you end up waiting for ages for them," she said.
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"Just before Christmas, I waited over an hour for a bus without being able to find out when it was coming and many constituents have had the same experience.”
The Newcastle Central Labour MP raised the issue with Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on Monday, January 24.
During Questions to the Department for Levelling Up, Ms Onwurah said: "In Newcastle, we have been waiting seven years, that is seven years, for the real-time integrated bus information of the type that Londoners take for granted.
"Now we hear that the £3 billion bus improvement funding is actually less than half that and that much of it is going on zero-emissions buses leaving even less money for our Bus Improvement Plan, which includes real-time information.
"So will he commit to levelling up bus transport in the north so that we are no longer under-served, overcharged and under-informed?"
The Government had promised £3 billion for bus service improvements nationally last year, but a letter sent to Local Transport Authority directors by the Department for Transport on January 11, seen by the Observer, was said to reveal that there is only £1.4 billion for the next three years.
This includes money already allocated for zero-emission buses.
The North East alone needs £804 million to improve bus services, according to the Bus Service Improvement Plan submitted to the Government, which includes real-time information.
In response to the Newcastle MP's question, Secretary of State Michael Gove said: "Having spent some of the happiest months of my 20s on buses in Newcastle, I can absolutely sympathise with the honourable member.
"It is the case of course that her constituency has received £20 million from the Levelling Up Fund, but I look forward to working with her, and the North of Tyne Mayor and Newcastle City Council, in order to see what more we can do in order to improve public transport."
Ms Onwurah has now launched a campaign to improve Newcastle bus services.
She said: “The Government has been talking about ’levelling up' for years but we have nothing to see for it.
"We need real investment in North East transport infrastructure if levelling up is to have any meaning.”
Cllr Ged Bell, cabinet member for development, neighbourhoods and transport at Newcastle City Council, backed Ms Onwurah's campaign.
He said: “Every great city needs a great public transport network – reliable, smart and green.
“Unfortunately, funding from the Government differs on where in the country you are.
"In the North East buses move three times as many people as the Metro, but have been woefully underfunded for years.
“We back this campaign to get the investment we need for the people of Newcastle to improve bus services and provide good quality alternatives to the car to help us meet our net-zero ambitions.”
Meanwhile, Transport for the North East issued a joint leader’s statement on transport funding for the region on January 25.
Tyne and Wear councils said they have "no choice" but to boost local transport funding in the face of planned cuts to privately-operated bus services caused by a lack of Government funding.
The statement said: "The upcoming decimation of the bus network in Tyne and Wear is wholly within the Government’s power to resolve.
"We call once more on the Government to reverse its decision to end Covid-19 funding for buses and light rail, before the effects of the pandemic have passed.
"We also call upon the private bus operators to reflect upon the profits their owning groups have made over recent years, even during the pandemic.
"We ask them to remember that we voluntarily chose to continue to pay local subsidies of approaching £40 million in order to keep services running throughout the pandemic.
"We now need the bus companies to reciprocate by maintaining services to our communities.
"Regrettably, without the Government’s help we cannot stop commercial bus companies cutting back their services.
"But by reluctantly increasing our level of local funding we can make sure that Nexus has sufficient resources to step in to maintain our communities’ most important transport links."
