Government support has hauled public transport companies through the pandemic. As passenger numbers plummeted, the Department for Transport (DfT) struck emergency agreements with train operators, and dished out grants to keep bus services running. By June 2020, it had spent £3.5bn on the rail network alone.
Listed companies still need all the help they can get. Passenger volumes rose steadily last year, but Omicron sparked a second exodus, and numbers are still down. According to government figures, use of National Rail services was still half of pre-pandemic levels at the end of January, while bus use was 40 per cent lower than early 2020.
Government intervention risks turning sour for some companies, however. Over the past two years, the DfT has shown a growing interest in how public transport is run, arguing that customers are being failed by shoddy services and expensive tickets. This sentiment is on full display in Michael Gove’s new levelling up report, which promises to bring all public transport “much closer to London standards” with improved services, simpler fares and integrated ticketing.