An early day motion was put before the House of Commons on Wednesday July 6 2010 by Angela Smith MP in which she calls on the Government to continue to support the bus services operator grant.
The motion followed an article in the Guardian newspaper entitled 'Rural bus services and ticket prices under threat' http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/04/rural-buses-ticket-prices-threat which warned of the possible impact of any Government decision to cut or abolish the grant.
In response the article, Centro's chairman, Cllr Angus Adams and chief executive, Geoff Inskip, have written to the editor outlining the potential effect on bus services in the West Midlands.
The letter states:
Your article "Rural buses and ticket prices under threat" (July 5) flags up concerns over a Government review of the Bus Services Operator's Grant (BSOG).
The article concentrates on the potential impact on rural bus services resulting from a possible Government cut or abolition of the £500 million subsidy.
However, we would like to point out that such changes would also have a big impact on bus services in the major urban areas.
We believe that removing the bus grant would result in an increase in fares across the West Midlands of up to 10 per cent as well as a cut of around seven per cent in the number of services running on our streets. Passengers would essentially be left paying more for less.
The effect could see around 25 million fewer bus journeys being made in the West Midlands each year. The Campaign for Better Transport is also concerned that this, in turn, could lead to potential job losses of around 10 per cent within the bus industry.
Clearly, the grant plays a very important part in increasing bus patronage, tackling congestion, improving accessibility and maintaining reliable and cost effective bus service levels. It is particularly important for public transport users in the West Midlands who rely heavily on the region's bus network.
There is also the environment to consider. The bus is one of the greenest forms of transport available and the grant therefore assists the industry in the contribution it makes towards improving the environment.
The Campaign for Better Transport warned only last week that Britain would struggle to meet legally binding targets on carbon emissions unless transport in general got greener. The need for the grant is therefore as keen now as ever.
We understand the need for the Government to make economies and savings in a targeted and fair way and it is likely that they will want to reshape subsidies to the industry. We would urge them to consider how this can be achieved in a way that can benefit passengers.
Investment in buses continues to be needed and we would welcome the opportunity to discuss with Government whether there are better ways of spending this subsidy so that services can be improved to everyone's benefit.
