BUS CUTS - TRANSPORT POVERTY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2018 :: RMTnews 12 R MT has warned of a growing epidemic of transport poverty as new research shows that funding support for buses has almost halved in the past eight years Research by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) has revealed that local authority bus budgets were slashed by over £20 million last year and by a shocking £182 million since 2010 leaving many areas without public transport services. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that bus services were being ripped to shreds across the country through a toxic combination of funding cuts and cherry picking by the private operators. “Whole communities are being cut adrift without any transport links, hitting the elderly, the vulnerable and the low paid the hardest. "There is a growing epidemic of transport poverty in Britain rammed home by these shocking figures. Access to lifeline transport services is being ripped away from those who need it most,” he said. The CBT report Buses in Crisis found that since 2010/11, supported bus budgets have decreased by £182 million, representing a reduction of 45 per cent and some 199 bus routes were altered or withdrawn last year amid the decline in funding. CBT public transport campaigner Steve Chambers said that it confirmed that the slow death of the supported bus continues, with local authority bus budgets suffering yet another cut this year. "The resulting cuts to services mean many people no longer have access to public transport, with rural areas hit especially hard,” he said. The loss of a bus service can have "huge implications" such as preventing people accessing jobs and education, increasing congestion due to a reliance on cars and affecting people's physical and mental health by making it harder for them to leave the home, researchers warned. Martin Tett, transport spokesman for the Local Government Association, insisted that councils are "desperate" to protect bus services. "It's nearly impossible for councils to keep subsidising free travel while having to find billions of pounds worth of savings and protect other vital services like caring for the elderly and disabled, protecting children, filling potholes and collecting bins. "Faced with significant funding pressures, many across the country are being forced into taking difficult decisions to scale back services and review subsidised routes,” he said. BUS CUTS- TRANSPORT POVERTY RMT vows to fight for the principle of access to transport services for all