£12m rescue package to save at-risk North East bus services

Deniz Huseyin

04 July 2023

Martin Gannon: Frustratingly, the Government is asking us to redirect some of the BSIP funding to prop up existing services as it withdraws its national post-Covid recovery funding

Council leaders in the North East have agreed to spend up to £12.2m to secure local bus services that private operators were set to withdraw. The funding will come from the £163.5m Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding the Government awarded the North East.

This money was meant to be used on wide-ranging upgrades across the region such as cutting fare prices and renovating stations, but some of it will now have to be diverted to save at-risk bus sevices, said the North East...