Bus operators in Staffordshire to receive top-up funding but only if they promote services
Bus operators in Staffordshire will receive a cash boost to keep services running if they show they're trying to attract more passengers, council chiefs have said.
Staffordshire County Council has agreed to carry on topping up Government subsidies for another six months after help prop-up services affected by Covid-19.
But authority chiefs have now said companies who receive the cash must promote the routes for when the financial support comes to an end in autumn this year.
Department for Transport bosses have said Covid subsidies for bus operators will be extended from April until the end of September to help firms to recover.
Councillor David Williams, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "The extension of central Government grants until the autumn is absolutely essential to maintaining many services in Staffordshire at the moment.
"The county council does not run bus services but has been doing all it can to help locally, which is why we are continuing to make concessionary fare payments at 100 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, rather than for current use.
"Passenger numbers have not yet recovered and our extended cash support is conditional on operators showing how they’re trying to build up passenger numbers for when the subsidies end in the autumn."
Operators had been paid the pre-pandemic rate of £7 million per annum for concessionary travel over the last two years, despite actual user numbers falling. Concessionary travel funding is paid by the county council to commercial bus operators for carrying passengers with older person’s passes and disabled passes.
Councillor Williams added: "Around 95 per cent of bus services in Staffordshire are entirely commercial and usually there is only a little that the council can do to influence their operation.
"Many people rely on these services for work, study and socialising and their loss would badly affect the county, so we are keen to work with the bus operators to help the network.
"There’s a six month breathing space now for operators to really promote their services in the communities they serve and I would say to former passengers that if they value what’s on their doorstep they need to support their local routes."
