South Yorkshire mayor says county shafted in bus funding plans

West Yorkshire's plan wants to make buses "as competitive as possible against private car use in urban areas"

South Yorkshire has been "shafted" by the government on bus funding, the area's elected mayor has said.

Dan Jarvis said the county had received nothing despite lodging a bid for £474m as a part of a national scheme to improve services.

Neighbouring West Yorkshire received £70m while the city of York got £17m.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said "areas not showing sufficient ambition" would not get funding under the bus strategy scheme.

Areas were chosen because of their "ambition to repeat the success achieved in London", the DfT added.

Mr Jarvis, who is also Labour MP for Barnsley Central, said: "We've been shafted.

"We needed central government to put its money where its mouth is and back our ambition."

Dan Jarvis said the government had "once again failed the travelling public in South Yorkshire"

Mr Jarvis, who will make way for a new county mayor in May's elections, added: "The government's so-called commitment to levelling up - which supposedly has buses at its heart - is nothing more than an empty promise."

The money to be given in West Yorkshire will be used by Tracy Brabin, the elected mayor, to work with private bus companies to reduce fares and increase reliability.

Ms Brabin said: "We want buses to be the first choice for travel in West Yorkshire, and our ambitious Bus Service Improvement Plan is a major step towards making them more affordable, convenient to use, and better for the environment.

"The level of funding provided for buses means we will have to make some tough decisions and it will take us longer to deliver the benefits of a fully-inclusive bus service that our plan offers."

'Ongoing delays'

The Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) for the county had placed a reduced, revised bid of £168m with the government.

Baroness Vere, the minister for buses, said of the £70m award: "It was less than they had asked for but everywhere, all across the country, was hugely ambitious and so necessarily we did have to ensure the right amounts went to the right people."

Matthew Topham, campaigner at Better Buses for West Yorkshire, said local buses operators were in "crisis" and cutting services.

"We cannot afford the ongoing delays to bringing buses into public control," he added.

Baroness Vere said York was a "great place for bus services" and complimented it on its zero emissions buses and park and ride schemes.

The City of York announced the first fully electric park-and-ride bus fleet in the country for the tourist hotspot in 2017.

The DfT said that just under two-thirds of England's population outside London will "benefit from new investment" under the plan in buses, including earlier funding awards.