Escalating bus subsidies to be capped
Council taxpayers in Devon are subsidising some bus trips by nearly £20 for every individual passenger, it has been revealed.
Now the county council is considering lowering caps on subsidies it will pay for bus journeys in Devon that would otherwise have been withdrawn by their commercial operators for being unprofitable.
The ceiling will depend on the type of service and bigger subsidies are proposed for public transport which provides the last link for communities with bigger towns and for services which people use to get to and from work.
Currently one subsidised Devon service costs £22.95 for every passenger trip while another bus journey costs £19.38.
The measures are being proposed as the authority faces saving £1.7 million out of its annual bus subsidy as a way of meeting the £50 million county council budget reduction required by Government spending cuts next year.
It will be the first time that the authority has been forced to make bus service reductions for four years.
But it’s proposing to increase funding for volunteer-run, community transport providers which take people to health appointments, services, shops and leisure activities where no suitable transport is available.
The county is set to launch a wide-ranging public consultation on which bus services are most valued by their local communities.
Meanwhile the Cabinet member responsible, Stuart Hughes, has pledged that no communities which are currently served by a bus will be entirely cut off.
Instead services which operate on a daily basis may be reduced to two or three days a week with similar reductions for less frequent services.
“The intention will be to ensure weekly links are protected,” he said.
There may also be a reduction in the destinations served, but Mr Hughes added: “The reduction to some services is likely to involve a reduction in the choice of destination, reflecting where possible the most popular destination.”
“But we will still be spending over £4 million on public transport when these savings take full effect,” said Mr Hughes.
“We have made efficiencies in previous years to provide the required savings.
“But the scope for further efficiencies is very limited. This aims to preserve bus services across the county but to continue thinning those services and reducing choice in terms of travel time and destination.
“It provides a way of reducing our spend on public transport with the least possible impact.”
The public consultation is scheduled to start this month. It will provide a complete list of all the services affected and enable people to identify which ones are most needed by their community.
