Arriva North East bus services under threat amid funding row

Dozens of bus services in County Durham and Darlington have been threatened with being scrapped or significantly reduced amid a funding row.

Arriva North East has proposed a shake-up from 9 July, which would see 25 services affected, as well as changes in the wider Tees Valley area. 

It said it could not reach an agreement with Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) and Durham County Council.

TVCA said it had offered a "fair settlement" which Arriva rejected.

A finalised list is due to be revealed next week, but documents seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show the extent of the proposed service changes, which include:

Arriva said withdrawing or making significant changes to bus services was "always a very last resort" and apologised to its passengers.

It blamed both local authorities for a 28 per cent cut in funding for the English National Concessionary Fares Scheme (ENCTS) - a programme which provides revenue reimbursement free bus travel to ensure operators are not financially worse off.

The operator said the changes were made with the aim of minimising the impact of reductions on passengers, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the network. 

"We appreciate the financial constraints that both authorities are working under, however the reimbursement rates proposed will not continue to cover the costs of running a significant number of our services and has regrettably led to this decision," a report said.

The firm has faced criticism over its reliability of Darlington services for more than a year, with passengers reporting they had missed hospital appointments and arrived late for work.

It highlighted improvements being made to Service 7 (Durham to Darlington) and X46 (Durham to Crook and Stanhope).

TVCA insisted the changes were a commercial decision made by Arriva.

"Arriva is the outlier, as deals based on the same approach have been accepted by both Go North East and Stagecoach," a spokesperson said.

"There are fewer concessionary bus pass holders travelling on buses and therefore it is only logical that the amount operators are reimbursed for these trips is less.

"The funding that operators receive for carrying concessionary bus passengers is only one income stream and therefore for Arriva to suggest that these service changes are solely the result of a fair concessionary fares reimbursement offer is disingenuous."

Arriva did not comment further on the proposed changes.

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