Cuts to bus services makes grim news for people in rural areas

Public commitment to public transport is so desperately needed

The shocking news of cuts to bus services across Kent has left residents in many rural areas reeling at the news that they will no longer have any bus services upon which to rely.

CPRE’s 2021 report Every village, every hour highlights the benefits of buses to communities and society:

• Using buses rather than cars reduces air pollution – current costs to the UK £23 billion per year
• Using buses instead of cars reduces the tyre wear that generates 68,000 tonnes of microplastic pollution every year
• A bus can carry enough passengers to take 75 cars off the road, reducing congestion, which currently costs the UK £12bn per year
• Buses reduce road traffic, which emits over 100 million tonnes of CO2 a year, which currently costs the UK £12 bn per year
• Buses already allow 3.5 million people to commute to work every day, generating £63 bn of goods and services per year
• Buses bring more than a billion shopping trips a year to high streets across the country, enabling £27 bn of retail spending
• Half the lowest income households do not have access to a car and nor do almost two-thirds of those with disabilities or those claiming income support
• People on the lowest earnings in rural areas spend almost twice as much on transport as those in cities
• One in three jobseekers say that the biggest barrier to finding work is inadequate transport

Clearly, passenger numbers have not bounced back since the pandemic, but a public commitment to a bus system fit for the climate emergency and that will help end the inequality and social exclusion suffered in so many rural areas is needed.

Studies in countries such as Switzerland, Austria and Germany show that a comprehensive bus service to every village, every hour (6am to midnight, seven days a week) could be delivered for £2.7bn annually. What are we waiting for?