Harrogate Bus Company welcomes extension of Government's Covid era support and £2 bus fares cap for passengers

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's announcement that the Government was to reduce support for businesses’ energy bills from £18bn over the last six months to £5.5bn for the 12 months from April – at the same time as the Bus Recovery Grant introduced at the beginning of the pandemic to keep bus services running was scheduled to end – had left bus operators worried about their financial future.

Despite bus companies' best efforts since lockdown ended just more than a year ago, passenger numbers in the Harrogate district have failed to rise above 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

But Harrogate Bus Company says it was “delighted” by the news that is now to be a three-month extension to England’s £2 cap on bus fares, as well as its Covid-related support.

Paul Turner, the Commercial Director of Transdev, Harrogate Bus Company’s parent company, told the Harrogate Advertiser: “We’re delighted to see to see that the Department for Transport has announced that the £2 fare cap will be extended until the end of June.

"So far during the fare cap, we have seen 11% extra customers on some of our routes, compared to customer numbers in November, and we’ve also seen the busiest day in the history of our company.

"The three-month extension to the cap will continue to encourage new customers out of the car and onto the bus.”

The Government’s decision follows a warned by The Confederation of Passenger Transport, which represents bus companies, that up to 15% of England’s bus services could be lost if Government support was axed.

Although, recent months have seen Harrogate Bus Company highlighting the growing range of challenges it has faced since the pandemic, it has been keen to stress it has no plans to reduce services.

In fact, this week sees the return of the firm’s flagship 36 bus service from Harrogate to Leeds to its pre-pandemic frequency, with a bus every 10 minutes to Leeds.