Staffordshire bus services being looked at 'to reverse decline'

Government funding is on offer for local authorities across the country that get involved with the Bus Back Better strategy, which aims to reverse the decline in the number of passenger journeys seen during the past decade.

And Staffordshire County Council has committed to an “enhanced partnership” with local bus operators so it can access a share of the £3 billion funding pot to boost services in both rural and urban areas.

A Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) is now being prepared for Staffordshire and must be submitted by October 31.

Louise Clayton, head of transport operations and future connectivity at Staffordshire County Council, told a scrutiny committee: “We’ve formed a group of all Staffordshire operators to meet and try and understand what their aspirations for this strategy are. Their views are extremely important because in Staffordshire 95 per cent of our local bus network is operated on a commercial basis.

“It’s absolutely critical we work with our bus operators in Staffordshire to ensure that the commercial viability remains and increases – especially after what they’ve all gone through during the last 18 months.

“We’re also undertaking a public engagement exercise. I think we’ve had around 1,200 responses so far. That engagement will help inform our future BSIP document.”

A report to Staffordshire County Council’s Prosperous Overview and Scrutiny Committee said: “The bus network in Staffordshire has seen a notable decline in patronage over the preceding decade, from 22 million passenger journeys made in 2009/10. The National Bus Strategy aims to reverse this decline and ensure a sustainable bus network remains in place, with the majority of services being able to operate on a commercial basis.

“Prior to the pandemic it is important to note that the majority of bus routes operated in Staffordshire were provided commercially with minimal financial support from the county council.

“In common with many local transport authorities the supported bus network in Staffordshire has reduced over the last six years. Available funds have been used to support daytime journeys to allow access to key destinations where subsidy per trip remains within reasonable bounds.

“Within Staffordshire a BSIP could have wide ranging benefits for our urban and rural areas alike. It offers the opportunity to reverse the long-term decline in bus passenger numbers that have occurred over the past decade.

“As we come out of the Covid-19 pandemic, robust measures will be needed to restore the public transport network to a strong and sustainable footing.”

A member of the Prosperous Overview and Scrutiny Committee raised concerns about the short deadline for submitting responses for the plan however during a meeting this month.

Councillor David Smith said: “The most important thing when we start looking at bus services is consultation with the people who either use them or would use them if the service was there.

“I’m concerned about the passenger engagement questionnaire that we’ve had. I was at the coffee club in one of my villages – out of all the people there 23 of them don’t have access to the internet. I anticipated that and printed off some hard copies."

Councillor David Williams, cabinet member for highways and transport, responded: “With the timing, unfortunately this is a Government push – the times they gave us to initially apply for the bid to go for a BSIP and put it on are very, very tight. These are timings that have been set by Government and this is the only way we can get these things through with the proper amount of scrutiny.”

Councillor Keith Flunder said: “Speaking on behalf of councillors in the Staffordshire Moorlands, what bus services would be the phrase we would say to you. We’re in a rural area and there’s very limited bus services in and around all the villages.”