Taxpayers funding unprofitable bus routes

One in three bus services dropped for being unprofitable ended up being taken on by the same operator with taxpayers' money, the Express & Star can reveal.

Since January 2007 a total of 54 bus routes were axed, 36 of them by National Express West Midlands. The majority were then deemed to be "socially necessary" by transport authority Centro and revived using public money.

The authority spends £8 million a year making up shortfalls for bus companies on 184 services.

Councillor Roger Horton, who represents Sandwell on Centro's ruling panel, accused National Express West Midlands of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" by axing routes in parts of the Black Country but funding big improvements to services in Birmingham and Walsall.

Centro revealed that 17 of the 54 services dropped were then taken on by the same bus company.

National Express West Midlands re-applied for nine of the 36 services it cut and is now in receipt of a taxpayer funded subsidy.

Rival firm Diamond Buses, based in Warley, dropped seven services but took back three.

Choice Travel also dro-pped three services it then picked up again, while the now defunct Travel A2Z, dropped two routes it took on again.

Centro spokeswoman Babs Coombes said eight of the dropped services were taken on by another operator at no cost to the taxpayer.

The authority was obliged to accept the tender from the company that would do it for the lowest subsidy.

Carly O'Donnell, spokeswoman for National Express West Midlands, said: "We closely monitor our bus network.

"This can lead to additional services on busy corridors or route withdrawals where passengers have cho-sen to use other services. We offer an extensive range of bus services and are proud that over 97 per cent of our network is run commercially."

Services dropped and then taken on by the same operator between January 2007 and July 2009 included: