Emergency support ended on October 9, despite warnings

 
As October 9 approached, transport minister Jenny Gilruth made clear that the government would not provide a further tranche of temporary support

 
Widespread cuts to bus services are predicted after the Scottish Government’s emergency support for the sector to recover from the pandemic came to an end.

The government introduced its Network Support Grant (NSG) in April, replacing the Bus Services Operators’ Grant and its Covid-19 support funding. The new arrangement included NSG+ until October 9, designed as temporary support to reflect reduced passenger numbers compared with 2019.

As October 9 approached, transport minister Jenny Gilruth made clear that the government would not provide a further tranche of temporary support but convened a Bus Taskforce to discuss the way ahead.

Ralph Roberts, chief executive of McGill’s Group, told Passenger Transport that the Scottish Government had done a good job throughout the pandemic by maximising the number of bus services available to the public.

The ending of the NSG+ scheme will now unfortunately mean widespread cuts to services and job losses

However, he added: “The ending of the NSG+ scheme will now unfortunately mean widespread cuts to services and job losses.

“There is a wider question that is now coming home to roost. Decades of public policy that has side-lined bus as a mode, causing the industry to lose vital productivity, pushing up costs and seeing falling ridership, has meant that the industry was already weakened going into the Covid pandemic. We are not just dealing with the legacy of Covid, we are dealing with the legacy of the private car being central to planning and roads policies for 50 years”.

CPT Scotland director Paul White said: “CPT Scotland continues to engage with the transport minister to make the case for a continuation of NSG+. Meanwhile, we are collaborating with government through the newly formed minister-led Bus Taskforce to address the challenges facing bus operators and hope that this forum will affect change on issues such as patronage growth, driver shortages, congestion and rising costs.

“However, while this work continues it is critical that the Scottish Government supports the bus network through NSG+, mirroring similar commitments by the UK and Welsh governments. Failure to do so would force many operators to consider actions such as service reductions and fares increases at a time when we want to be growing bus use and protecting our passengers from the cost of living crisis.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said Gilruth had reconvened the taskforce in a bid to better support the sector in its continued recovery from the pandemic. “The minister has made clear her intention to engage the UK Government in this work – noting the reserved competencies in relation to Brexit impact on the labour market and fuel costs. It was certainly disappointing that no UK Government minister was able to attend.

“The minister [Gilruth] undertook to urgently consider any further support that might be available within budgets, but this has to be undertaken in line with the Scottish Government’s Emergency Budget Review.”

He pointed out that the government was investing £300m annually to deliver the UK’s only free bus travel scheme for all children and young people under 22 as well as its scheme for disabled people and everyone over 60. More than 2.3 million people were eligible for free bus travel.

The bus industry is teetering on the edge and … the Scottish Government has the money, so when will it act?

Graham Simpson, Conservative MSP for Central Scotland, said the ending of NSG+ could cost more than 200 jobs, while 50 routes could be cancelled entirely and services in some areas could be a cut by more than a third. “The Confederation of Passenger Transport Scotland estimates that it will cost £44.8m to extend the grant for six months, and its modelling shows a potential underspend of £79m for the concessionary travel scheme and of £84.5m for the under-22s scheme. The bus industry is teetering on the edge and, as I have just demonstrated, the Scottish Government has the money, so when will it act?”

 
This story appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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