West Yorkshire Mayor calls on Government to protect local bus services

Ms Brabin, alongside other metro mayors in Liverpool, South Yorkshire, the North of the Tyne, the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have written to the Department for Transport calling for clarity around the Government’s bus recovery grant.

The Government grant, originally designed to help bus operators through low passenger numbers during the pandemic, is set to end next month.

Because of this, bus operators have warned that there could be drastic cuts to local services as a result because passenger numbers haven’t reached pre-pandemic levels yet.

In response, the mayors have slammed the Government for leaving communities in the dark about whether funding will be continued after next month.

It is feared that this could lead to a 15 per cent cut in bus services across the country, leaving people stranded and crippling local economies.

In the letter, the mayors said that further cuts to bus networks would devastate our communities and undermine efforts to develop strong regional economies.

Ms Brabin said: “We want fairer investment for buses in our region so people can get to school or work, and to give our communities the best chance to thrive.

“The Government’s lack of clarity on support for buses is keeping communities in the dark and could force operators to make drastic cuts to services, which will decimate transport networks across the country and hold back growth.”