Bus services are integral and should be improved - The Yorkshire Post says

Those on low incomes have no choice but to rely on buses. Without them they cannot get to work, are unable to send their children to school or do their weekly shopping.

Buses also provide elderly people with the mobility that they need to get on with their lives. Loneliness is a real issue, as this paper has long highlighted, especially amongst older people in our population and buses provide them with a gateway to greater social interaction.

And given the climate crisis, the role that buses can play in getting cars off the road should also not be lost on policymakers.

It is therefore vital that the Government starts looking at the threat of bus cuts in Yorkshire once its pandemic funding ends.

Admittedly there are fewer people using buses following the Covid outbreak but for those who do use them it is a lifeline. And at a time when more people are being encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint by driving less, taking away bus travel runs counter to that. Ultimately, buses need to be affordable and reliable if people are to continue using them.

That is one of the reasons why campaigners met outside York Minster to argue for bringing York and North Yorkshire bus services under local control.

City of York Council has approved plans for an enhanced bus partnership with private providers in the city - a move which will unlock £17m in government funding to improve services. But campaigners don’t feel this is enough.

There is no easy solution but buses can’t be abandoned as they have an important role to play in the population’s mobility.