Cambridgeshire travel group labels bus cuts 'a disaster'
Research found Fenland to be the worst affected part of the county
A transport group has told us cuts to bus services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is a disaster.
Research from Friends of the Earth and the University of Leeds found Fenland to have the second largest reduction of bus services in the country between 2008 and this year.
Peterborough also made the top 20 local authorities in this list, ranking 18th between the same time period.
Anthony Painter is from the Cambridgeshire Parents for Sustainable Travel group:
"I think it's a disaster; just as we're worried about congestion, air pollution and affordable travel, and the mode of transport that can alleviate these things is a mode of transport that over the last decade-and-a-half has been cut the most," he said.
"It hits rural communities the hardest because they will have the least well-developed and available timetable of buses of anywhere else in the county, so we're seeing a disproportionate impact in those areas.
"If we become increasingly reliant on car travel, that will be less affordable, less convenient, more congestion and more air pollution so to see bus services diminish in rural areas more than anywhere else is deeply problematic."
Rural bus services drop by more than half, research finds
Since 2008, rural bus services across the country have dropped 52% with urban services seeing a 48% decrease according to the research.
These figures have come from an analysis of local and national bus timetable data for England and Wales for the last 15 years.
Data shows for weekday daytime trips made between 2006-08, Fenland recorded 109 trips per hour were made in Fenland compared to 18 this year, an almost 84% reduction.
Peterborough was next highest for the county, seeing the number of trips cut by more than 75% over the same time frame.
East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire both saw a 71% reduction in trips, while Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire had the lowest reduction rates with 36% and 29% respectively.
'Austerity' has helped cause bus cuts
Last month, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor Dr Nik Johnson backed plans to treble part of people's council tax bills, from £12 a year for a Band D property to £36 a year, to help improve bus services.
That was followed by a decision made by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to continue funding 18 subsidised bus services that had been put under review.
But Anthony believes there are certain ways of encouraging more people to use buses more often.
"To get people onto buses, you need to make sure it's affordable, reliable, convenient and available and what's happened over the last decade-and-a-half through austerity and a variety of things is we've seen those services reduce," he said.
"We might have to look at (bus revenue) options like a workplace parking levy; we need to generate local resources to invest in more routes and better buses.
"If we invest in public transport, better cycle routes, pedestrian ways, we can better balance road use and reduce congestion, make travel more affordable and create better linkages between places."
Government 'committed to cleaner travel' for Cambridgeshire
The Department for Transport (DfT) said it's provided more than £4.5 million to improve bus services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and that the Combined Authority has received £2.3m in bus service improvement funding for 2023-24 with an extra £2.3m for 2024-25.
From the Friends of the Earth report, the DfT said there are several reasons for the reductions in buses such as operators merging routes, although the service still remains.
A DfT spokesperson said: “We do not believe the report fairly reflects the wide variety of reasons for a perceived decline in services, including routes being merged but maintaining the same frequency and quality of service.
“We’re committed to supporting cleaner travel, having given over £4.5m to back bus services in Cambridgeshire and extended our £2 bus fare cap until the end of 2024 to encourage people to use them.”
The Combined Authority has been approached for comment.