Around 500 bus services are being reduced or axed every year – often hitting vulnerable people hardest, a new report has revealed.
The study by the Local Government Association (LGA) found councils were increasingly having to subsidise concessionary services for elderly and disabled passengers due to Government cutbacks.
This has come at the cost of other discretionary bus services, such as community transport schemes, said the LGA. And it warned that those in rural areas are most likely to see services reduced.
LGA transport spokesman Cllr Peter Box said: ‘Councils are doing everything they can to support bus users but are fast reaching a tipping point. There are limited opportunities to make further savings and reductions in funding for concessionary bus fares continues to impact on many services for the elderly, disabled and commuters, for whom bus routes are a lifeline.’
He added: ‘What is needed is a total overhaul of the way buses are run and funded as part of the Spending Review to protect cherished bus services and ease the pressure on stretched council budgets.’
