Mayor's public bus network unlikely to run before 2029

THE first North East buses under public control are unlikely to be running until late 2029, if huge reforms go ahead.

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter [e-mail]

North East mayor Kim McGuinness set plans in motion on her first day in office to seize power over the region's bus network back from private companies, reversing the deregulation of the 1980s.

Doing so would allow the North East Combined Authority (NECA) to set bus fares, routes and timetables, with operators contracted to run services under the kind of franchising system introduced by Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester.

There have been repeated complaints across the region over recent years about cuts to bus routes deemed not commercially viable by operators and major disruption caused by strikes.