Help for Staffordshire bus services
12 months’ temporary support is being offered to operators
Staffordshire County Council will offer a one-off 12-month subsidy to help commercial bus operators struggling to keep their services on the road.
The Department for Transport has recently announced further grants for the industry until March 2023, but many commercial routes in the county are said to be running at a loss with support needed to sustain services.
David Williams, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said:
"Around 95 per cent of bus services in Staffordshire are entirely commercial and many of these have been running at a loss for some time.
"During and after the pandemic the Government has injected millions of pounds into the bus industry to keep services afloat, but despite their latest commitment we still face a difficult situation locally and people may notice changes.
"The County Council has been doing all it can to help by paying £7 million a year for the concessionary fare scheme over the last 30 months, even though actual passenger numbers are far below that.
"We’re now putting more money into Staffordshire routes to try and tide them over the difficult times while they attract passengers back and to also ensure people can still get to work, school, or college especially when the cost of living is so high.”
This additional sum will be worth £750,000 on top of the £8 million spent in the sector annually by the authority, not including home to school transport.