(07 Sep 2025, 9:32 am)Rob44 wrote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yj38qj305o

great idea but wonder where the money will come from

A mayor is seeking to limit the cost of a single bus ticket to £2.50 for longer.
The cost of a single journey on a bus in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham has been capped at 50p cheaper than the national rate this year.
The discount, which has been subsidised by the North East Combined Authority, is due to end on 31 December.
But North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said she wanted to keep the cheaper fares until "at least" March 2026.
"Local people have told me they value it, and it helps them save money," she said.
"At our cabinet meeting later this month, I'll be making the case to extend the £2.50 fare…using existing funding until at least March 2026 to begin with, while we work with government for clarity on bus funding in the longer term."
In June the government announced that the £3 cap on bus fares, covering most bus journeys in England, would last until at least March 2027.
There are separate bus caps in London and Manchester.
The cap, which was first introduced in January 2023, was increased to £3 from £2 at the start of this year.


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(07 Sep 2025, 9:32 am)Rob44 wrote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yj38qj305o

great idea but wonder where the money will come from

Before giving out cash to operators to bridge the gap between artificial cost and supply, maybe she'll use a bit of thought and get an agreement with them not make any major service changes before franchising as a condition of them getting the cash! 

I doubt her or NECA are even capable of thinking of that!

(07 Sep 2025, 11:26 am)DeltaMan wrote Before giving out cash to operators to bridge the gap between artificial cost and supply, maybe she'll use a bit of thought and get an agreement with them not make any major service changes before franchising as a condition of them getting the cash! 

I doubt her or NECA are even capable of thinking of that!

The only way she can 'manipulate' the current commercial network, to either improve or maintain it, is by throwing money at operators now.

That's the unfortunate reality of what currently still is a commercial market. 

Imposing sanctions based on future opportunities is not possible, both practically and mostly likely, legally.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdj3gd1ppzo

An interesting read followed up by Ben Gilligan asking for more money.

(6 hours ago)Andreos1 wrote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdj3gd1ppzo

An interesting read followed up by Ben Gilligan asking for more money.

Ben is not asking for money. He's being diplomatic. I know the area very very well and a lot of the settlements on the east coast have populations in double digits. 

What he's really saying is if somebody else wants to pay for more buses to serve villages with under 100 people living there, then fill your boots. 

I imagine if they did it themselves, they'd lose a lot of money, close Withernsea depot and make the drivers redundant. He can't say that though!

(4 hours ago)DeltaMan wrote Ben is not asking for money. He's being diplomatic. I know the area very very well and a lot of the settlements on the east coast have populations in double digits. 

What he's really saying is if somebody else wants to pay for more buses to serve villages with under 100 people living there, then fill your boots. 

I imagine if they did it themselves, they'd lose a lot of money, close Withernsea depot and make the drivers redundant. He can't say that though!

It sounds alot like he's asking for money tbf... "But, he wants long-term government funding guarantees to improve services."

(4 hours ago)stagecoachbusdepot wrote It sounds alot like he's asking for money tbf... "But, he wants long-term government funding guarantees to improve services."

People read that quote and think he's asking for money -He could equally be suggesting similar levels of funding as now, but for a longer period

For.example, there are local authorities that issue one year ENCTS settlements. I imagine in an area such as the East Riding, that is a critical income stream. If they only issue one year settlements, there is no way EYMS can plan for new services 24/36 months in the future.

(2 hours ago)DeltaMan wrote People read that quote and think he's asking for money -He could equally be suggesting similar levels of funding as now, but for a longer period

For.example, there are local authorities that issue one year ENCTS settlements. I imagine in an area such as the East Riding, that is a critical income stream. If they only issue one year settlements, there is no way EYMS can plan for new services 24/36 months in the future.

Yeah I read it as continuing longer term rather than an increase - however to me that is still asking for more money from the public purse as it has to come out of a budget, at the expense of something else, somewhere each year.  Some of the measures mentioned in the article were meant to be temporary, to support recovery post Covid.  We are way past the pandemic now, yet it's become normalised to expect continuation of public funding to prop up a commercial outfit.  We've seen it all before with likes of Kick Start funding and whatever was before that - supposedly to grow operations to be commercially sustainable, subsidy comes to it's planned end, operators cut the improvements back.  Should be either public, or private - not this worst of both worlds madness that just drives instability and decline.