BUS COMPANIES EARN BILLIONS AMID ROUTE CUTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2019 :: RMTnews 15 RMT has slammed private bus companies in England which have pocketed a total of £3.3 billion in profits while presiding over savage cuts to vital routes. Labour Party research has revealed how bus fares are set to rise while private companies are making record profits. Labour also predicts there will be 5,000 fewer routes by 2022 due to a 45 per cent reduction in funding for bus services across England and Wales from 2010-11 to 2017-18. It also said that elderly and disabled passenger numbers are set to fall by nearly 20 per cent and there are expected to be 5,000 fewer bus routes across the country in 2022. Last year the number of bus journeys in England dropped by 63 million outside the capital. In London they dropped by 29 million. The axe fell on 301 routes, 125 of them in the north. Labour has urged the government to remove its ban on local authorities forming their own bus companies and vowed to extend local government powers to re- regulate local bus services when in government. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that passengers now faced a toxic mix of rising fares, cuts to services and reduced access. “Labour will act in the interests of the many by protecting pensioners’ bus passes and introducing a new free pass for under-25s. “For too long the bus industry has put profit for a few before millions of passengers. A future Labour government will change that,” he said. RMT general secretary Mick Cash backed Mr Corbyn’s comments that private bus companies were running bus services into the ground while raking in billions of pounds in profit. “With services in decline and vulnerable and isolated communities taking the brunt of the cuts it is now clear that decades of bus privatisation have failed and we need a new national strategy for our buses underpinned by public ownership. “This would not only radically improve services but by ending profiteering would result in a total gain of half a billion pounds each year,” he said. Government data also shows private firms together made hundreds of millions operating buses outside London each year since the coalition government came to power in 2010. Yet a report by the Transport Commissioner found almost 17,000 bus routes have disappeared over the past five years. The latest figures follow an RMT survey contained in RMT evidence published by the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee Inquiry into the bus industry which took evidence from the unions and bus employers. The RMT survey of bus workers found that 72 per cent of bus workers believed their company prioritised making a profit over providing a service. The survey provided to MPs also found that: • 76 per cent of bus workers did not think that there was enough funding for bus services • Only two per cent of bus workers thought that the government had good policies for the bus industry. • 84 per cent of bus workers said they believed bus services should be publicly owned and operated. BUS COMPANIES EARN BILLIONS AMID ROUTE CUTS Labour predicts 5,000 fewer routes by 2022 due to nearly 50 per cent spending cuts BUS POLICY: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and Transport Secretary Andy McDonald (left) talk with pupils from Littleover Community School in Derby, where they launched a new policy on bus travel for young people.