Current Offer to Passengers

Prior to local bus service deregulation in 1986, Cumbria County Council was awarded a grant of £2.5 million (£7 million at 2024 costs) for local bus service support. By 1998 that had fallen to £180,000 (36p per head of population, the lowest in England). The introduction of the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant of almost £1 million (tenth largest in England) saw a re-introduction of lost bus services.

However, when the grant ended and with other pressures on Council budgets, after public consultation Cumbria County Council took the decision to remove the whole £1.5million budget for local bus service support. For the last ten years, with the exception of a few locally funded routes, bus services in the County have only run if they are commercially viable.

Apart from some reductions in frequency, the commercial network in Cumberland has largely been maintained for the last twenty years, and in the tourist area of the Lake District there has been an expansion of services, with better frequencies; longer operating seasons, plus earlier and later buses. This however contrasts with the limited service provided in most rural areas outside the main tourist region, including to a number of larger settlements, which due to the great distances to main population hubs, often through areas of very sparse population, normally have no daily service or public transport links for work journeys.

There are a number of thriving Community Bus operators, who have stepped in where the commercial market has been unable to deliver a service for the area. An important consideration for the Council in relation to the BSIP Plus funding is how to maintain the good work these groups have done, whilst also meeting the aspirations of many local people for a return of the higher service levels of the past with frequent (at least) six day a week services, including journeys for work.

Cumberland Council is keen to investigate ways of restoring loss of connectivity and tackling climate change with a shift away from the reliance on private motoring. The BSIP Plus funding has given the Council the opportunity to start to turn these aspirations into reality, but the short term nature of the funding remains a concern.