South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard has said a bus company in the region going bust shows that the whole public transport system ‘is broken’.
Powell’s Bus, which operates around 26 services in South Yorkshire, the majority in Sheffield and Rotherham, has announced it will cease operations by August 8. Stagecoach Yorkshire has already said it will come in and replace some of the services affected.
Mr Coppard said Powell’s had received financial support from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and the announcement was ‘another blow’ at a time when ‘operators are already failing to provide passengers with the services they need’. The South Yorkshire mayor added the system at present allows operators to ‘simply walk away’ leaving the taxpayer to step and prop up services.
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Council leaders and the mayor are undertaking an assessment into whether South Yorkshire can franchise the region’s buses, as a route to a long-term solution for the public transport network. In the meantime, SYMCA has asked the government for a funding package that allows it to better support and maintain the public transport network.
Mr Coppard said: “I know that Powell’s announcement of their insolvency will be a huge worry to our community, putting at risk people’s jobs, livelihoods and further undermining our region’s bus network. I share those concerns. At a time when operators are already failing to provide passengers with the services they need and deserve this is another blow.
“With the limited public money available to support bus companies, we had been providing Powell’s with additional levels of financial support this year. Their announcement this week is just another example of how the system as a whole is broken – temporarily plugging the gap of at-risk services is not a viable long-term solution or a route to building the public transport network our region needs.
“Right now we have a broken system that allows operators to simply walk away, leaving taxpayers to step in and prop up services, so people can get to work, school, medical appointments and to see family and friends. My priority is to move at pace to find operators to plug the gaps that have been created by Powells.
“I’m pleased to say we have had positive conversations with alternative operators and I’m confident we are in a position to fund other operations to provide some of the services that are at threat of being cancelled. We’ll make details available as soon as we have them.”
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