Bus services in the North East are facing another tidal wave of drastic cuts, it is feared.

Transport chiefs predict that the region’s bus network will be slashed by as much as 20% in the coming months, with a Government grant to operators due to end on March 31, in what would be another bitter blow to the beleaguered public transport system.

The “catastrophic” reductions would come on top of cutbacks in 2022 that saw bus companies reduce their mileage by 15%, meaning almost a third of the North East’s services would have been lost in the space of a year.

It would be yet more bad news for passengers who have complained of buses being regularly delayed or cancelled over recent months, amid driver shortages and industrial disputes, with more areas left with services that have been either severely reduced or axed completely.

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Politicians and bus operators have issued a plea for the Government to extend the Bus Recovery Grant funding, or else leave communities counting the cost of “inevitable” cuts and “significant” increases in ticket prices.

Go North East managing director Nigel Featham, speaking on behalf of the North East Bus Operators Association, warned: “If the government decides to axe funding for buses – which is now looking likely – it will put an end to a huge number of routes. The North East will be particularly hard hit as it has many rural and semi-rural routes, which are the ones most at risk.”

Frustration with the recent cuts and disruption to services has led to renewed calls for the incoming North East mayor to bring the bus network back into public control, under powers that will be granted to the region as part of a proposed £4.2bn devolution deal.

The North East does already have proposals for major upgrades to the bus system under a £163m improvement plan funded by the Government. 

Leaders’ ambitions include joined-up ticketing that would allow passengers to travel across different public transport services with a single ticket, upgrades to stations, and better live service updates.

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But Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon now worries that the bus industry could instead be plunged into “terminal decline”.

Coun Gannon, who chairs the North East Joint Transport Committee, warned that the impending cuts would be so “overwhelming” that local councils and Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus would likely not be able to intervene.

He said: “If recovery funding is pulled by Government, it will be catastrophic. Another wave of bus cuts will do long term damage with frequencies axed, fares hiked, and some of our communities losing their bus services altogether.

“It might even push the bus industry into a terminal decline. Last year, when bus operators reduced their commercial services, we had no choice but to step in and find extra local funding to stave off the worst of the cuts – doubling the proportion of bus services that we pay for. This time around, the scale of cuts that would follow the Government’s withdrawal of funding would be overwhelming and we are unlikely to be able to respond.

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“I will be working with local leaders, our bus operators and MPs to press for urgent Government intervention to save our bus services from the chopping block. We can’t allow this to happen.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson replied: “We’ve already invested £2bn  to protect existing bus routes from the impacts of the pandemic, in addition to more than £1bn  to support bus service improvements.

“We’re also investing £60m to cap single bus tickets at £2 across England from 1 January to 31 March, which aims to encourage more people to use the bus.

“We are actively considering how to provide effective support for the bus sector.”