this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This would be great news. Imho, council run buses are a great public good.
When you have a large town/city, it's really important to have a way to get around that's not expensive.
You only have to visit somewhere with a properly run network to see the difference.

Reading for example:

As a municipally owned bus service, the council says Reading Buses can invest an additional £3m a year in the bus network, around 12-15% of its annual turnover, because it does not pay out dividends to private shareholders.

Money from commuter services also subsidises smaller less well-used routes.

Edit: Another place it helps councils: Old people bus passes.

In June 2023 the LGA said there was a £452 million gap in the funding councils receive from government compared to the actual number of ENCTS journeys made in 2022. This meant that councils were having to plug the financial gap from their “own stretched budgets”, which was “completely unsustainable

So a LA owned bus company with lower fares means the council doesn't end up making up the shortfall between what the government pays for free journeys and what the bus company decides to charge.