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We've approached the market with a tender to run local services in response to the cuts announced this week by First and Citistar.
The cuts – due to take effect from Sunday 24 April - will affect a number of routes that are failing to recover quickly enough financially while their central government Covid-relief funding is withdrawn later this year.
Buses play a vital role serving the communities of North Somerset and without us stepping in, it would leave some communities without bus services and cut links to employment, shops, hospitals, schools and colleges.
Subject to a successful tender process, our proposals would mitigate some of the worst effects of cuts.
However, the scale of cuts means that we’re unlikely to replace every route under threat and difficult decisions will have to be made about which services we can ultimately save.
There isn’t enough funding to replace all routes like-for-like so many people may have to walk slightly further to find a bus, or might need to change buses en route as there will be fewer direct links. Some services will also start later in the morning or finish earlier in the evening.
We’re calling on the Government to recognise this and continue to provide financial support to bus companies until passenger numbers are closer to pre-pandemic levels.
Commercial bus companies operate the vast majority of bus routes in North Somerset and decide where and how often these run.
We have powers to commission additional services where there are gaps in these commercial services which would otherwise leave people without access to public transport.
First and Citistar recently informed the council of plans to reduce their services across North Somerset to levels they consider financially sustainable in the wake of the pandemic.
Our new contracts will take effect from Sunday 24 April to ensure as much travel continuity as possible.
We’ll announce details of the replacement services once the tendering process is complete.
We’re also seeking to extend the current community transport contracts, in partnership with our suppliers, for an additional year as these are due to lapse in April.
This will give more time to respond to the changing demand from public transport and community transport as services are rebuilt post Covid.