Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided for bus services in real terms in each of the last five years.

The Department for Transport has provided a total of £3.47 billion (£2.8 billion in real terms (2010/11 prices)) for bus services between 2018/19 to 2022/23. This includes the Bus Service Operators Grant, Covid-19 Bus Service Support Grant, Bus Recovery Grant, Commonwealth Games funding, £2 Bus Fare Cap, and Bus Service Improvement Plan funding.

The breakdown of this by year is as follows:

2018/19 - £244 million (£215 million in 2010/11 prices)

2019/20 - £249 million (£214 million in 2010/11 prices)

2020/21 - £1.2 billion (£974 million in 2010/11 prices)

2021/22 - £899 million (£729 million in 2010/11 prices)

2022/23 - £873 million (£671 million in 2010/11 prices)

In addition, on 4 October, as part of Network North, we announced a further £1 billion from redirected HS2 funding to level up bus services in the North and Midlands via BSIP, making them more frequent, more reliable, cheaper, and easier to use. We are also extending the £2 bus fare cap until the end of 2024, meaning we are investing nearly £600 million in total to cap bus fares across England since the scheme was launched. On top of this, we have announced that a new uplift of 60% will be added to Community Transport Operators’ (CTOs) Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) claims until 31 March 2025.