FirstGroup and Go-Ahead welcome fresh round of Covid bus funding
By Josh White
Date: Monday 10 Aug 2020
(Sharecast News) - Bus operators FirstGroup and Go-Ahead both welcomed an extension of coronavirus regional bus funding from the Department for Transport on Monday.
The new funding round of £218.4m for the industry, under the Covid-19 Bus Service Support Grant Restart (CBSSG Restart) programme, would extend the arrangements previously announced at the end of May for the next eight weeks.
Additionally, the government confirmed over the weekend that rolling funding of up to £27.3m per week would continue to be made available under the programme thereafter, until such time as it was no longer needed.
FirstGroup said the commitment was on "substantially the same terms" as previously.
It said First Bus operations across England had increased operating mileage from around 40% to almost 90% of pre-pandemic levels, with passenger volumes increasing from about 10% to 40% since their low point.
The Scottish government also announced additional expenditure of up to £68m to extend the similar funding scheme in place for Scotland's bus operators to 8 November.
"The further funding packages confirmed by the UK and Scottish Governments enable us to keep people travelling safely on our essential services, allowing social distancing to be maintained on our vehicles," said FirstGroup chief executive officer Matthew Gregory.
"Bus networks are vitally important to local economies, both now as people return to education and workplaces, and in the future as they offer a sustainable transport alternative to the car."
Gregory noted that recently, the company had introduced a number of additional measures to ensure it was offering a safe experience for customers, and helping them to make "more informed" travel decisions.
"This includes seat signage, enhanced and long-lasting anti-viral cleaning regimes, and upgrades to our mobile app so that customers can check in real time how full each bus is and the availability of wheelchair spaces.
"In the last few weeks we began two more such initiatives, a pilot scheme in Bristol which allows key workers to book reservations on specific buses, and a new tool for passengers initially launched in Glasgow, which predicts how busy a given bus will be depending on the time of day, for up to seven days in advance."
Go-Ahead chief executive officer David Brown said that communities returned to work, services reopened and people began to travel again, the company was seeing customers return to public transport.
"However, passenger numbers are still below 50% of pre-Covid levels across our networks.
"While social distancing is in place and sections of society remain closed, we welcome the government's continued support to keeping these critical services running.
"With enhanced cleaning of our buses, mandatory wearing of face coverings, and guidance on social distancing and hygiene, customers can travel safely and with confidence on our services."
At 0814 BST, shares in Go-Ahead Group were up 3.38% at 612p, while those in FirstGroup were 7.84% firmer at 41.84p.
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