The Isle of Wight Council is to hand Isle of Wight bus operator Southern Vectis more money than last year, to offset those eligible for concessionary travel. Southern Vectis says it is transporting about the same number of paying passengers as it did in 2019 (pre-COVID-19) while the number of people travelling with concessions is about 92% of pre-pandemic levels, although numbers have risen compared to last year. Up from around £4.6million in 2023, the council will pay £4,976,652 to reimburse fees for Islanders who travel for free, under concessionary fares. The Department for Transport says operators should be ‘no better or worse off’ as a result of the concessionary travel scheme, including for older people and those with disabilities. The Isle of Wight Council will pay 30p more per concessionary journey compared to 2019. The authority is facing an overspend of £39,000 compared to what had been allocated in the budget but says the money will be found in the budgets for its highways and transportation departments. In previous years, council cash helped support Southern Vectis when passenger numbers slumped. Now, figures shared by Southern Vectis with the IW Council reveal the Island is “outperforming” many other locations in terms of passenger numbers. Meanwhile, community bus routes, including the West Wight’s FYT bus, will receive a share of £30,000. The payments were agreed at a meeting of the IW Council’s cabinet, on Thursday, 14th March. The figures are indicative of the Island ‘moving and getting back to work’, said Councillor Ian Stephens, the authority’s deputy leader. Councillor Paul Fuller, a frequent user of public transport, said bus services are key to ensuring residents feel included.
COUNCIL HANDS OVER ALMOST £5MILLION TO SOUTHERN VECTIS TO OFFSET CONCESSIONARY TRAVEL
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And so it should! We deserve benefits, not like those young scroungers!
You’re just an old scrounger then. If you worked harder and saved, you wouldn’t need a freebie bus pass. Why should my taxes let you have a jolly all day?
Wow hang on here a minute now I appreciate a bus service is vital but £5 million? Does southern Vectis not make a financial profit come year end? Our council tax is on the up and the old leaders saying they have no money? Really this council has gone to the dogs, so I like many who can’t use the bus service as it cannot meet my working hours has to buy and run a car aswell as pay towards a bus service??
Vectis run until early hours of the morning and some of the first buses go out from 5am onward
Part of our council tax has always gone towards pensions etc, this is just the council subsidising Vectis for concessionary travel and the £2 fare. If they didn’t subsidise this then no, they wouldn’t make a profit.
IOW are passing the money on, it’s come via general taxation from central government. Same as we all pay for NHS care…it’s there IF we need it and yes, some will benefit more than others. The paying the tax into the profit of SV (or any company) though….in my view should be non-profit.
More of our Council Tax money being wasted.
Who wants to travel by bus, have you not seen the
Numpty’s who use them.
I often use the bus and it saves me a lot of money. You meet some lovely people on buses.
True, but there are a load of unsavoury people too who use these buses.
They might think the same about you of course. That is life.
There is a lot of unsavoury people in cars so what
It’s not council money, it’s tax payers money. It’s down to the dft as to how its spent
It says that the money was ‘to reimburse fees for Islanders who travel for free, under concessionary fares’. But what about all the visitors with eligible passes who happily travel around the Island on the buses? I use my bus pass when I visit the mainland, so is it a case of roundabouts and swings?or being a holiday resort is there a greater proportion of visitors than non-holiday areas of the mainland – in which case Islanders are subsidising those visitors.
It’s country wide. It’s a government initiative running until end of the year. We have already paid for it via taxation.
There council pay.
Southern Vectis says it is transporting about the same number of paying passengers as it did (pre-COVID-19) while the number of people travelling with concessions is about 92% of pre-pandemic levels.
First off what is the relevance of “Pre COVID-19”
So in effect, regardless of COVID ( I used capitals as the report obviously think this is very important) the figures of concessionary passengers are 8% down on “pre-pandemic” levels.
So why the need to give more of our Council Tax to a private company?
It’s a country wide initiative. All councils subsidise bus companies for 1) the £2 fare and 2) concessionary travel. Its not just the iow council
I’m not sure where you got your information either but the amount of bus users has most definitely risen since the £2 fare was introduced. That’s why they’re so keen to keep it going
I got my information from the article……
It is because the Governments bosses
THE WEF don’t want people owning cars or homes
2030 will be the year of change.
This is fantastic news! I’m sure they’ll use it wisely and not be tempted to pay any of it out in dividends to their shareholders, whereby depriving us from a decent bus service.
All of the money will be put back into Vectis. Maintenance of buses, paying staff wages, maintenance of depots and outstations, fuel costs etc.
It costs around £450 to run one bus for a day. Vectis have almost 200 drivers, however many extra staff at their office and depots. How many buses run per day? See the bigger picture.
If you lived in a small village on the mainland you’d be lucky to have one bus come through per day. Small villages on the island such as Wellow and Thorley have an hourly service. Islanders take everything for granted. We have one of the most frequent and reliable services in the country, that’s why vectis won bus operator of the year.
Well said Brian
“It costs around £450 to run one bus for a day.”
Therefore the council/government are paying for over 30 buses each day. How many buses do SV actually run every day?
6 an hour on route 1, 6 an hour on route 9, 2 depart Newport every hour on the route 7, 2 every hour on route 2, 2 every hour on route 3, 2 from ryde every hour on 2 and 3 also, the 38 runs a bus half hourly, the 5 runs 4 buses an hour, at least a dozen school services daily. The 4 from ryde goes hourly, the 37 does also. The number 6 and 12 do regular services. The 8 goes once an hour in winter, twice in summer. 2 open top services in summer too and the island coaster. Summer Links bus to Tapnell, various local services such as the 24 in sandown/shanklin and the 32 in cowes etc.
That’s at least 50 a day. Then you have to consider the cost of wages to pay people to actually drive the buses and the staff in the office and Travel shop
Jeez.this sort of wasteful farce is why we have no bloody services no more! Bail yourselves out fgs
Keep your red thumbs fools.its our money ends up paying
Why should our council pay this? As it is a national scheme central government should meet the cost.
They did. IOW council are simply managers of it. Money came via general taxation.
As usual, the lack of transparency speaks for itself.