A post jointly authored with Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance
Bus services across our region could be cut by 38% by 2035, due to rising costs and insufficient public funding. A key reason for the shortfall is Mayor Paul Bristow’s pledge to freeze the Mayoral Council Tax Precept which supports buses. Mayor Paul Bristow and the Combined Authority’s Board can turn this situation around. The Travel Alliance is calling on the Mayor and the Combined Authority to take urgent action to save our buses by:
- Increasing funding for buses
- Giving buses more priority on roads (a proven way to substantially reduce bus operating costs).
Read the Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance press release and the collection of testimonies from bus users in March (Fenland), Ely (East Cambridgeshire) and Huntingdon (Huntingdonshire) about the impacts bus cuts would have on their daily lives.
Substantial decline in services forecast unless action is taken to reduce funding shortfall
After a year of standstill regarding plans to bring buses in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough under public control, the Combined Authority published an independent review into how franchising could be implemented. The report predicated that unless solutions were found, bus services across our region could be cut by 38% by 2035, due to rising costs and insufficient public funding, with rural areas most badly affected. The review’s author Leon Daniels OBE, former Managing Director, Surface Transport for TfL, appeared before Combined Authority committees in June to discuss his findings. Read about the solutions Leon Daniels recommended to reduce the funding gap and avoid service cuts.
Note: the business case for franchising was predicated upon the Mayoral Council Tax Precept rising from the current 10p/day for a Band D household to 16.5p/day by 2032 and 20p/day by 2056. Mayor Paul Bristow, made a commitment “never” to increase the precept.
Further information:
- Browse the Cambridge Area Bus Users’ page explaining Franchising to understand a bit more.
- Bus reform Consultation document PDF (precept figures on p99) Note: This consultation ran from 14 August to 20 November 2024.
- Independent Review of Implementation Pathways for Bus Franchising Scheme PDF Our figures are derived from pp 20, 35 of this report.
- Transcript of Leon Daniels addressing the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Transport Committee PDF
Cambridge Area Bus Users 