Bus service budget savings on the agenda

Bus service budget savings on the agenda

Councillors will review plans to make savings on bus service spending at a meeting on Friday, following reductions in local authority funding for transport.

Around 80% of bus services in Greater Manchester are operated commercially, with the remaining 20% run with financial support from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).

The vast majority of TfGM’s revenue funding comes from the 10 local authorities, who are facing unprecedented budgetary pressures. Levy funding for TfGM has been frozen for the following two years, meaning the amount of funding available for its operating costs and the costs of supporting bus services will be reducing, while costs are increasing.

A report to Friday’s TfGM Committee’s Bus Services sub-committee outlines the planned approach to making necessary savings of 20% – or £7.1 million – in its supported bus services budget over the two years to 2015/16.

Services TfGM pays for include some bus services on the general network, school services, demand responsive and Local Link services and town and city centre Metroshuttles.

Greater Manchester’s Ring & Ride accessible transport service will continue to run 8am to 10.45pm, seven days a week, despite budget cuts.

The service, which provides door-to-door accessible transport for people of all ages who find it difficult to use ordinary public transport, currently runs over 1 million journeys a year.