Arriva and council at loggerheads over planned cuts to bus services

Last week Arriva announced it was making changes to buses across Shropshire, including axing a bus to Princess Royal Hospital, in Wellington.

A spokesman for Arriva said: “The rates at which Shropshire Council has felt able to reimburse Arriva have been cut by nearly a third in recent years, falling well below the levels paid by other authorities.

“Unfortunately, the combined impact of these factors means that services have been running at a sustained loss for some time.”

All bus operators in England, except London, receive reimbursement from Local Transport Authorities for carrying older persons and eligible disabled persons on all local bus services for free. This rate varies between each Local Transport Authority. The council has also been unsuccessful in a bid to the government for support to increase bus ridership.

The Arriva spokesman added: “We are currently taking actions to improve our position in Shropshire and have reviewed those parts of the Shrewsbury network which are equally not currently financially sustainable. One of the actions has been to review our loss-making routes 17/17a between Shrewsbury, Wellington and Princess Royal Hospital.

“From Monday April 172023, routes 17/17a will be withdrawn. Customers wishing to travel between Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospital wishing to travel by bus have the option of catching our route 10 to Telford Bus Station and connecting with one of our frequent services to Princess Royal Hospital.”

“Alternatively, there is a train service between Shrewsbury and Wellington, and a frequent bus service from Wellington Bus Station to Princess Royal Hospital.”

But Shropshire Council disagrees with Arriva’s assessment of the situation, saying its position has been supported following an appeal to the Department for Transport.

A council spokesman said: “We, as with all local transport authorities outside of London, adhere to the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, which identifies the reimbursement rate for operators.

“This takes into consideration a number of factors including the fares that each operator charges. It is agreed annually and can take into account individual operators’ costs, with the reimbursement rate itself generated from these factors.”

The spokesman said the council has “always applied the principle of the national scheme provided by the Department for Transport (DfT) for local authorities to calculate reimbursement rates for each operator and have negotiated rates where operators have provided evidence to support that.”

The spokesman added that Arriva requested an increase to this rate a few years ago, but at that time it was felt there was little evidence to support a claim.

“Arriva submitted an appeal to the DfT requesting they step in and make a decision in their favour,” said the spokesman.

“A period followed with both sides submitting data to support their stance, with final submissions made to the DfT with the overall decision to be made by the Secretary of State for transport.

“The Secretary of State’s decision upheld our stance, with a minor award to Arriva on one particular service.

“As the Secretary of State made the judgement we now apply the principles of that appeal to each years calculations for reimbursement, which includes that additional payment to Arriva for that one route.”