The Government has temporarily extended funding support for bus services after the LGA warned that thousands of local routes could be lost without it.
The Department for Transport announced that £80 million would be made available to bus operators until the end of June to support routes that have seen passenger numbers fail to recover since the pandemic.
The Government also announced it would extend its £2 fare scheme, designed to incentivise more people to use the bus, for another three months.
The move comes after the LGA joined forces with transport groups to warn that an alarming number of bus routes would have to be cut because of passenger numbers remaining 15 per cent lower than their pre-pandemic levels.
Cllr David Renard, the LGA’s Transport Spokesperson, said: “The LGA has been calling on the Government to urgently step in to ensure thousands of vital bus routes are not lost in April, and so we are pleased that both the £2 scheme and the operator grant has been extended.
“Buses act as a lifeline for so many people in our local communities.
“They are one of the keys to getting people out of their cars to save money, tackle congestion, and improve poor air quality.
“However, our bus services cannot survive on a hand-to-mouth existence.
“The Government must use the time this funding buys to work with councils and operators to develop a long-term, reformed bus funding model with significant new money.
“Only this will help the delivery of the Government’s ambitious National Bus Strategy, to which councils are fully committed.”
