Labour Councillors Minesh Parekh and Ruth Milsom, and Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake, have voiced their anger at private bus companies’ plans to slash South Yorkshire’s bus services by a third.

Private bus companies are set to begin removing a third of South Yorkshire’s bus network from as early as July.

People in Sheffield and Rotherham are set to face withdrawal of several key bus services. This will be followed by further cuts in October when the government withdraws its covid-19 transport grants in October.

Councillor Ruth Milsom said:

“In a climate emergency, we need public transport to be accessible, affordable and reliable. Our service was already on the brink and these cuts will only make it even harder for people.

“What this makes clear is that we desperately need to move to a system of public control, as soon as possible, so that private bus companies no longer dictate what routes are offered, so timetables and fares work for people rather than shareholders.”

Councillor Minesh Parekh said:

“The rules governing our buses have created a market that is fundamentally broken. Private bus companies can pick and choose which buses they want to run, and pocket every penny of profit, and then at the same time refuse any routes they don’t want to provide—and abandon our communities along the way.

“The Tories promised to deliver a “London-style transport system” as part of its “levelling-up” agenda. These cuts—the further erosion of low-carbon transport in South Yorkshire so soon after our promised rail revolution fell apart—show that this was yet another promise they simply never intended to deliver.”

Cllr Milsom added further:

“This demonstrates exactly how the Government is failing to deliver joined-up decision-making: on the one hand asking local authorities to implement Low Traffic schemes that ask people to reduce their car dependence, while at the same time refusing to make public transport a viable and attractive alternative to use.”

Both Councillors calling on the Prime Minister to make good on his promise to deliver London-style connectivity, and provide the funding needed to save South Yorkshire’s bus services.

Sheffield Hallam MP, Olivia Blake, shared their concerns:

“In the middle of both the climate and cost-of-living crises, more cuts to our bus services are truly unconscionable, further reducing the reliability of public transport for people in Sheffield, meaning they might to have to buy or use a car or risk being cut off from jobs, friends, medical appointments and opportunities.

The Government promised to deliver a London-style bus network across the country, and instead they’re sitting by idly as South Yorkshire’s bus network is dismantled bit-by-bit, showing once and for all they can’t even be trusted to get us from A to B.”

Notes:

Service changes from 24 July 2022

Sheffield

The following routes will have no provider:

• Service 32/32a Sheffield – Firth Park – Parson Cross : Entire service will be withdrawn.
• Service 135/135a Rotherham – Sheffield via Chapeltown: Early morning, evening and Saturday/Sunday services will be withdrawn.
• Service 208 Whiston – Sheffield: Last evening trip from Sheffield – Whiston will be withdrawn. Sunday daytime service will be withdrawn.
• Service X74 Sheffield – Tinsley Park: Some early morning and evening journeys withdrawn.

Rotherham

The following routes will have no provider:

• Service 73: Early morning, evening, and Sunday services between Rotherham and Treeton will be withdrawn.
• Service 114: Early morning and evening services between Rotherham and Herringthorpe will be withdrawn.
• Service 116: Early morning, evening, and Sunday services between Rotherham, Thrybergh and Ravenfield will be withdrawn.
• Service 135/135a: Early morning, evening and Saturday/Sunday services between Rotherham and Thorpe Hesley plus links to Chapeltown will be removed.
• Service 208 Whiston – Sheffield: Last evening trip from Sheffield – Whiston will be withdrawn. Sunday daytime service will be withdrawn.
• Service X74 Sheffield – Tinsley Park: Some early morning and evening journeys withdrawn.

 South Yorkshire’s bus network

1. The Department for Transport (DfT) is responsible for the national bus policy framework, ad hoc capital funding to local authorities and operators, and legislation:

• Over more than 30 years, the DfT has stated an aim to increase bus use and halt the decline that has continued since the 1950s.
• In March 2021, the Government launched ‘Bus Back Better’ – a National Bus Strategy for England. This Strategy set out a requirement for local transport authorities to prepare and publish a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) by 31 October 2021, with the aim of making bus the mode of choice for the many.
• The Government pledged £3 billion in funding across the country to help realise the aims of the National Bus Strategy and BSIPs.
• The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) received nothing despite lodging a bid for £434m to achieve BSIP objectives for the region including capping fares, free travel for young people, quicker journeys, more journey options, and zero emission buses to make travel cleaner and greener towards a net-zero future.

2. In March 2022, SYMCA authorised the assessment of a proposed bus franchising scheme in South Yorkshire. The notice of intention sets in motion the legally-required work to see whether a franchising model – which would bring regulation of routes, frequencies, fares, and tickets under local control – could help efforts to transform the region’s transport. Since becoming South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard has appointed a Franchising Manager to oversee the process at pace.
3. In April 2022, SYMCA formally agreed an Enhanced Partnership Plan and Enhanced Partnership Scheme to deliver South Yorkshire’s BSIP. More information: https://southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk/explore/transport.
4. The Government’s Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) was set up to support commercial bus operators in England due to the ongoing impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) on their revenue from reduced passenger numbers. BRG funding support from Government ends on 4 October 2022.

*Source: National Audit Office https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Improving-local-bus-services-in-England-outside-London.pdf