(16 Aug 2021, 5:53 pm)Wybus wrote I’m still not sure how GNE know what the demand will be when we continue to come out of lockdown. Many people have not gone properly back to work in the office, I also expect many were not going out for leisure purposes as much as previously due to being a bit nervous or due to all the general faff it was, but they will do. It all seems too premature to me.
There maybe a very good reason why lots of bus routes are changing in early September:
The COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) ceases to be paid on 31/08/2021.
It is being replaced by the Bus Recovery and Maintenance Grant (BRMG) but the BRMG will only be of one third of the value of the CBSSG.
The BRMG will run until April 2022 when the Enhanced Partnerships should be in place across England.
Any route that has not doing very well passenger wise now (and which may not have been pre-COVID) will be reviewed by bus company management teams as to whether it is likely to increase in usage in the next few months, if it does not look like it will, then those routes will disappear, as the magic money tree (i.e. the tax payer) that has funded bus routes since March 2020 will be cutting it's funding by two thirds in about 2 weeks time.