A COUNCILLOR has described the fact that local taxpayers are paying £2.5 million a month for bus journeys that are not being made as “outrageous.”

At a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee yesterday, members were given an update on the work to support bus services that are facing plummeting passenger numbers due to lockdown.

During the Covid 19 Pandemic Local Transport Authorities have been asked to maintain the amount of money they provide to bus operators to provide subsidised journeys – such as those provided to elderly or disabled passengers.

But while the authority was providing funding at pre-Covid levels, the committee heard many of these journeys were not being made, and the authority was likely funding non-existent journeys to the tune of £2.5m a month.

£2.5m a month spent subsidising ‘non existent’ bus journeys in West Yorkshire

Dave Pearson, Director of Transport Services at the Council, said: “This is not a satisfactory arrangement going forward.”

Leeds Councillor Neil Buckley (Cons, Alwoodley) said: “When we say that this is ‘not particularly satisfactory’ I think that is an understatement. It is outrageous.

“The sooner it can be corrected, the better.”

Councillor Kim Groves, Chair of the Committee, said she had written to the Department for Transport with her concerns. She said: “We have no data, so there is no scrutiny of these invisible journeys.”

She said that although Government had supported bus services during the pandemic, this was soon to end. She added: “There needs to be more sustainable funding to take us to 2021 at least.”