A total of £10 million is being slashed from the budget of the county’s integrated transport authority, Metro, in the next two years.

Bus and train services in West Yorkshire will be affected by the cuts, with Metro looking for savings of £3.5m in the next financial year starting in April.

Concessionary fares for young people and early morning, late night, Sunday and rural services could have to bear the brunt of the cuts if bus companies refused to “share the pain”, warned Metro chairman, Bradford councillor Chris Greaves.

He said negotiations were ongoing with the bus operators.

Metro spends almost £25m each year supporting a quarter of all bus miles in West Yorkshire.

Coun Greaves said measures had been taken to slim costs, but those had not been enough.

“Metro is already delivering the highest efficiency levels among Passenger Transport Executives with a slimmed-down workforce of 350, and has achieved about £1m of staffing savings this year but we are facing a further £3.5m of cuts with a further £6.5m next year,” he said.

Bus operators could play a significant role in limiting the impact, he said.

The authority’s proposed budget for 2011/12 will be discussed at a meeting on Friday.

  • Read the full story in Tuesday’s T&A