8 bus services in Bedford borough have been cut since 2022 - but £2 fare cap has led to increase in passengers

Eight bus services in Bedford borough have been cancelled since Summer 2022 – but the £2 fare cap has seen an increase in passengers, a meeting heard.

A report presented to Thursday’s Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (January 18) showed that five of the cancelled buses were routes financially supported by the council.

Councillor Jonathan Abbott (Lib Dem, Clapham & Oakley) said: “We’ve seen quite a devastating impact with reduction of buses certainly up in north Bedfordshire. [Residents need] to know what the council is doing to work with the bus companies to keep our services running.

“One of my concerns when the council introduced the four hours free parking was actually the potential impact it has on the rural bus services because if people think they can drive in town and don’t have to pay to park – I won’t catch the bus.

“That then actually does impact the residents who can’t drive into town because we’ve got less buses which are running, there’s less [available] service.

“And actually money which is potentially being used to fund the free parking is being taken away from rural areas.

“We were told by the mayor that the rural areas were going to be more important than they were previously, and in terms of things like the buses we’re just seeing a constant degradation of service.”

The portfolio holder for environment, highways and transport, councillor James Weir (Conservative, Great Denham) said: “In the five months of the four-hour free parking trial we’ve actually seen an increase over the same period last year of 438,000 passengers.”

He added that the £2 fare cap probably “pushed” a lot of people onto the buses.

The report to the committee said the next proposed cancellation is the Number Two service, which will end on February 14.

“[The operator] has asked for another £195,000 a year for two years,” councillor Weir said. “And that’s just the Park and Ride into Bedford part, it’s not the other way to Flitwick.

“Part of the reasoning maybe because Central Beds has removed, or are thinking of removing, some of the funding at the other end. And that’s made [the operator] react, so we are having more discussions before that deadline comes up.

“[The bus operators] have to make money, and we have to find a way to get them to do the right thing for our residents and support them where we can.

“We need to push the government and the Department for Transport for more funding for the right reasons and in the right areas,” he said.