(24 Dec 2021, 11:00 am)Adrian Looking at the Bus Service Improvement Plan, three of the KPIs of the plan are as follows:
- Covid-19 recovery: We will repair the damage caused by Covid-19 to bus ridership in our region by returning to the pre-pandemic level of 162.4 million trips by March 2023.
- Grow bus patronage: Once that has been achieved we will significantly grow bus patronage, targeting 10% growth on the 2019 baseline by March 2024 and a further 10% growth on 2019 figures by March 2025. We want to make sure this growth comes from all parts of the region and so the same target will apply for boardings at rural bus stops, and for patronage among young people.
- Grow bus modal share: We will increase the modal share of bus by 1 percentage point by March 2024, and by another 1 percentage point by March 2025. This target will apply both overall, and for journeys to work and education.
I'm not sure how to take these services cuts in relation to the positivity span by the BSIP. The target is 178.6 million trips by March 2024 (using the 2019 baseline) and 194.8 million by March 2025. That's only just over 2 and 3 years away respectively.
The suggestion that a growing popularity of a railway service is impacting the X84/X85, or the all but abandoned battle with the railway service on the X9/X10, feels like an acceptance of defeat. What happened to offering a better product, travel experience and so on?
Maybe this is an early sign that operators are already abandoning the ambition of the BSIP.
The BSIP is only built around obtaining the £800m it has asked for.
Clearly TNE are not going to receive the full amount they want, so lots of BSIP ambition will be lost.
My understanding, as it stands, operators are at best, 70-75% recovered and leveling off. Clearly, funding only guaranteed until end of March. No surprise operators are already starting to cut their cloth to match demand and/or remove services that are marginal or loss making even before this.
