As we head into lockdown #3/tier 4 for the foreseeable future I wonder what everyone thinks about operators broadly continuing to operate a full timetable?

Their costs are covered by the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant but is this the most appropriate use of public money at this time? Would the ‘Sunday Plus’ timetables not suffice during tier 4? All services would run, with normal first, last and off peak departures but I can’t really see any route justifying a 10 minute frequency until we move to at least tier 3.

I understand CBSSG requires operators and local authorities to work together to agree service provision so it’s not totally ‘on them’ but LAs have a lot on their plate right now and with £27M per week currently being spent on keeping buses running, superfluous services are an expensive luxury.