1 March 2022
RMT Press Office:
Bus union cautiously welcomes announcement
Commenting on the DfT’s extension of local transport Covid-19 funding until October 2022, General Secretary Mick Lynch said:
“With numerous bus operators warning that services face the axe from April, the DfT’s decision to extend funding from April until October is welcome. However, it must be a condition of this funding that all bus services and jobs are protected, and any cuts already being considered must be withdrawn.
“Of course, today’s announcement does not give local authorities the certainty over long-term funding for local bus services that they desperately need.
“If the Government is serious about levelling up and delivering improvements to bus services, it must as a matter of urgency, provide local authorities with ring-fenced, long-term funding, to enable them to protect and expand their local bus services.
“The Government must also put passengers before profit and create a publicly controlled and owned bus service, including reversing the nonsensical ban on new municipal bus companies to enable local authorities to directly deliver the bus services their communities require.”
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