Bus service fears over Tyne and Wear Metro funding shortfall

A funding shortfall for the Tyne and Wear Metro could mean cuts to bus services unless local councils fill the gap, transport bosses have warned.

Government money to cover local rail service losses while passenger numbers remain below pre-Covid levels is set to be withdrawn next April.

This leaves Nexus, which operates the system, with a predicted £20.8m funding shortfall for 2022/23.

As it would not be viable to cut Metro services, buses could bear the brunt.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said that a report to the North East Joint Transport Committee warned that a 40% reduction in Metro train services would save just £3.7m.

The report states that such a fall in ticket revenue would create an ever bigger deficit that would "require additional subsidy or, in all likelihood, lead to the closure of the system".

The committee's chair, Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon, said there would be "almost certain cuts" to bus services and either "an increased burden on our cash-strapped councils or even bigger cuts to public transport".

If Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside councils were unwilling to up their payments to Nexus, the cuts would therefore likely come from the Shields Ferry and Nexus secured bus service, he added.

These include school buses, early morning and late night services and routes to outlying areas that are not considered commercially viable.

The warning comes just weeks after an £806m plan to improve the North East's bus network was unveiled.

The Department for Transport had previously said that the funding for the Metro, and a number of other rail operators, was "the final tranche of Covid-related financial support", which would "allow operators to keep running the vital services ... as restrictions are lifted and passengers begin to return in higher numbers".

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].