York and North Yorkshire could be a trail blazer for the future running of bus services, the transport secretary has said.
Louise Haigh said she hoped a form of franchising, where local authorities set out which services operators run, could come to the area quickly once new powers come into force.
The transport secretary added £12.5m for local buses demonstrated the Government’s commitment to right historic funding wrongs despite upcoming fare hikes and uncertainty over transport projects.
It follows the announcement of an almost £1bn package to improve bus services across the country, with £85m set aside for Yorkshire and the Humber.
But it comes ahead of the hike in the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 in January.
York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith told LDRS this week he was considering all options after others have stepped in to hold the cap at £2 elsewhere.
The bus funding also follows spending reviews launched in the summer which included looking at Government funding for the planned Haxby Station and York Outer Ring Road dualling projects.
The Labour transport secretary spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) during a visit to York College on Thursday to discuss transport issues facing young people.
Ms Haigh, York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith, York Outer MP Luke Charters and York Council Deputy Leader Pete Kilbane, spoke to students who use buses to commute.
Emily Goddard, 18, told LDRS after their discussion that it took her two to three hours to get from her home in Goole to York College.
The A-level student added it could take her an hour on to go from college to visit her grandmother in Fulford, a journey that would take about 20 minutes in a car.
Around half of York Colleges almost 10,000 16 to 18 year old and adult students along with its apprentices travel from outside the city, with many reliant on buses.
Ms Haigh said the funding and the upcoming extension of franchising powers aimed to better connect places like small towns and villages to where people needed to go.
She added that despite having to strike a balance between buses and other areas of transport given funding constraints, Haxby Station and York Outer Ring Road remained on the table.
The transport secretary said: “We’ve designed the formula to address some of the historic wrongs that rural areas have faced with bus funding.
“I’m looking forward to working with the mayor to extend franchising powers to York and North Yorkshire.
“We’ve seen in Manchester with the Bee Network that bus franchising has been a success, revenues and passenger numbers are up.
“What we want to see in York and North Yorkshire is those powers adapted and the introduction of the model sped up so it doesn’t cost a fortune for the tax payer.
“We’re hoping the region could be a trailblazer for the model when the mayor gets new powers through the Better Buses Bill that’s currently going through Parliament.
“The biggest barrier to people getting a bus is not having a bus service at all, under the current model we see private operators pick and chose whatever routes they want to run and abandon the others, leaving councils to step in and fund them.
“Franchising is about giving local authorities the power to control where buses go and require operators to run them.
“The fare cap was due to end until we stepped in with £150m, if we hadn’t have done that fares in rural areas could have gone up to £13 or £14 or higher, but we had to strike a balance.
“The York Outer Ring Road is going through its full business case review at the moment, the funding’s been considered in the normal and proper way but it’s not being delayed or stopped.
“We are considering Haxby Station as part of our spending review into transport projects because we recognise the potential for housing developments along the route to support it.”
Mayor Mr Skaith said the funding for buses would help make vital improvements to accessibility while buses would remain affordable albeit with a higher fare cap.
The mayor said: “We’re still in the early stages of looking at the funding in relation to the fare cap but we think that having it at £3 will provide really good value for money.
“We’d love to go down the full franchising model and we’re working closely with the transport secretary on that.
“But our region is very particular in its geography so what we eventually get will look different to what’s been done in places like Manchester.”
York Outer MP Luke Charters said discussions about the future of Haxby Station were ongoing and positive, after the Government’s axing of the Restoring Your Railways Fund cast doubt on funding for the £24m project.
Speaking about the bus funding, he added: “We’ve heard from the students at York College that whether they’re coming from the city, Harrogate or Goole, buses are a life line.”
York College Principal Ken Merry said the additional funding was welcome given that they spend £1.44m on running 17 bus routes for their students.
The principal said: “The additional investment into York and North Yorkshire to support the transport infrastructure is very welcome and our students look forward to seeing how this extra resource will further enhance access to their studies and enrich their lives.”