South Yorkshire's transport executive is 'no longer fit for purpose,' says Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis

In a letter responding to Sheffield councillor Penny Baker around cancelled services in her Stannington ward, Mr Jarvis said South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) did its best to mitigate cuts by operators but added a ‘complete rethink’ was needed.

The mayor also said he found late running services and cancellations ‘frustrating and infuriating’

Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts is currently undergoing a review of South Yorkshire’s buses and a report detailing what should happen next will be published in the Spring.

The mayor did add the sale of FirstBus had ‘complicated’ the process and that he ‘continued to make the case to national government’ for further investment.

Mr Jarvis said: “While the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) does its best to manage and mitigate service cuts by operators, its architecture and approach are no longer fit for purpose.

“For far too long, we’ve had more of the executive than the passenger – a complete rethink is required. Arms-length arrangements have also cemented a gap between funding and accountability, and we have lost sight of where this accountability sits.

“Like you, I am very concerned by successive rounds of bus service cuts impacting on residents right across South Yorkshire. Like you, I find late running services and the volume of cancellations on some routes frustrating and infuriating.

“The travelling public has in recent years been subject to steadily deteriorating services as the frequency, reliability, connectivity and the general quality of our buses spirals downwards.

I am working to arrest this decline – though there are no easy solutions. As South Yorkshire’s Mayor, I have inherited annualised reductions in funding for buses, ultimately attributable to government cuts, resulting in a situation of ‘managed decline’ where passenger patronage has fallen steadily.

“But we also need a fresh, imaginative approach to how we run local services, including exploring the creation of not-for-profit and co-operative bus companies and expanding public ownership and local, democratic accountability throughout our public transport system.”

SYPTE has been contacted for a comment.