CALLS for more investment in the region’s bus services have been made, as the impact and scale of cuts in the region have emerged.

Research has revealed that the number of miles covered by bus services in Britain has hit its lowest point in 28 years.

Nationally the UK bus network has shrunk by eight per cent in the past decade, while passenger numbers have increased by 0.7 per cent in the same period.

The North-East and Yorkshire are two of the six English regions to see vehicle miles cut in the past decade – with North Yorkshire suffering some of the largest losses.

The size of a bus network is calculated as the number of miles travelled by all buses in service within a given year. Within the last four years, North Yorkshire has lost just under 20 per cent of its bus journey miles, making it the tenth hardest hit area in England.

The figures have been revealed in data compiled by the BBC Shared Data Unit – a joint venture involving regional newspaper journalists and the BBC.

In the North-East the total number of miles travelled on local bus services – both those subsidised by councils and commercial bus companies – amounted to 82.1 million in 2016/17.

Approximately half of those miles (44.9 million) were completed within Tyne and Wear, with 14.8 million bus miles taking place within the Durham County Council authority area – compared to just 3.2 million miles within the Stockton area and 2.7 million in Redcar and Cleveland.

In North Yorkshire – England’s largest county – the bus service equated to 10.6 million bus miles.

The statistics also reveal a stark North-South divide in the bus provision available to people.

According to Department for Transport statistics, 29 per cent of all buses used by local operators in England were in London in the year ending March 2017.

The operating revenue on local bus services in London during the same period was £2.1 million – almost equal to the revenue made in all non-metropolitan areas of the rest of England (£2.1m) and significantly more than all other metropolitan areas outside London (£1.2m).

North Yorkshire County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for transport, said rural areas face the biggest problems.

“We’re the biggest county in the country with a population of just 600,000, so apart from centres like Harrogate, Scarborough and Northallerton we have an enormous rural area to cover,” he said.

“The problem with buses in large rural areas is the distances they have to travel to pick up relatively few passengers. For a number of bus operators it simply isn’t a commercial proposition to run the service.”

He said council subsidies to the less profitable routes had been reduced to £1.5m in recent years and were likely to remain at that level.

With one of the largest elderly populations in the country, the council also pays £8m a year for free bus travel for over-60s, but he said those journeys were at least filling buses with passengers.

While London seems to benefit from various investment in its bus services which dwarfs that of any other area, it is hoped things may improve when transport powers and some funding are devolved to Transport for the North, which becomes a statutory body in April.

The council is also looking to alternatives – making more use of its own fleet of minibuses and expanding community car schemes, driven by volunteers, across the county, as well as volunteer-led initiatives such as the Little White Bus which runs through the Yorkshire Dales.

Dr John Disney, a senior lecturer specialising in transport at Nottingham Business School has suggested extra public subsidies of around £5m a year be made available to local authorities to support unprofitable routes and a franchise system for the bus networks, where public bodies set routes.

He also suggested concessionary bus passes for older people be means-tested.

Dr Disney said: “There needs to be an increase in the level of subsidy, but we are not talking about tens of billions of pounds.

"We are talking about relatively modest sums. It isn’t a huge cost, really. It needs some will to do something about it.

"In terms of the cost, by comparison with the railways or building a new runway for Heathrow, we are talking peanuts, but it needs the clout and the will.”

* Just two buses a day pass through Hutton Rudby, between Stokesley and Stockton.

Bridget Fortune, a councillor with North Yorkshire and Hambleton councils said they used to have a bus service that ran on the hour through the village, but the two bus services currently passing through the village are no good for people trying to get to college or work for 9am.

“They started picking off the buses bit by bit until there was no connections, people couldn’t use them, so now we’re down to two buses a day in Hutton Rudby," she said.

"There’s a bus at 9.40am which is no good if you need to get to college in Middlesbrough or to start a working day at 9am.”

Cllr Fortune said they had managed to lessen the problem with the Wheels 2 Work scheme, which provides scooters to young people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach work or further education.

Cllr Patrick Mulligan, executive member for education and skills and FE Colleges with North Yorkshire County Council said enabling young people to reach schools and colleges was of concern.

He said there had been changes to bus timetables which had affected young people trying to reach post-16 education since the council had had to reduce some of its subsidies to private bus companies and the companies have found certain routes unviable.

“If a commercial bus company wants to stop a route or alter a timetable, we don’t really have a say in it; it’s a commercial decision. But is is affecting our younger people post-16 trying to get to their place of education," he said.