Publicly-run bus services delayed by a year

The first franchised services were expected to launch in late 2027

Plans to franchise local bus services have been delayed until at least 2028.

Nik Johnson, former Labour mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), signed off on plans to take control of various routes in February.

A meeting at Peterborough City Council heard those plans were made on the basis the mayoral precept would increase, but new Conservative mayor Paul Bristow pledged to keep the precept as it was when he was elected in May.

Judith Barker, the CPCA's executive director for place and connectivity, told the council no "commercial model" could support the plans.

A review would need to take place, she said, therefore delaying the outcome.

The CPCA had said the franchise model would give it more power to set timetables, routes and fares, taking those decisions out of the hands of private companies.

The first publicly-run routes were expected to begin in late 2027.

Currently, bus services in Cambridgeshire are run by private operators, which can cut or withdraw routes if they feel they are not commercially viable.

Under the new system, these operators would still bid to run services, but the CPCA would control the routes and oversee standards.

However, at the council's scrutiny meeting on Thursday, Ms Barker said: "It was felt that the ambitions we had for the bus network weren't being met within the commercial model at the moment."

An implementation review is under way until December which will guide any necessary revisions to the franchising programme, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"We originally scheduled for the first services to be franchised in late 2027, but with the terms of this review that is now likely to be 2028," Ms Barker said.

"We either have to look at bringing in more income or reducing costs."

She told the meeting: "A number of organisations [are] coming forward with different models which we can then consider."