I know from all the complaints I have received recently that the service from East Yorkshire Buses (EYB) in the constituency has not been improving.
The Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority (HEYCA), headed by the Mayor, has now assumed responsibility for bus services in the region. The government’s new Bus Services Act has also given them greater powers to make improvements, with new obligations on operators to meet agreed service standards and share information on service performance including real-time reliability.
I raised your complaints directly with the Mayor, asking how he was going to use the budget and new powers to sort things out.
He informed me that a consultation is in progress to create a Combined Enhanced Bus Partnership for Hull and East Yorkshire to address the issues and plan for the future. An initial draft would be ready for consideration in March 2026, but no firm date for when the Partnership would come into force after that.
The government continues to do its part in improving our bus services – as well as the Bus Services Act, it has just announced a national £3 billion multi-year funding settlement to 2029. It brings together various bus funding streams into one source and ends annual funding decisions, giving authorities the ability to plan long-term.
In the meantime, Hull and East Yorkshire has received £20.1 million revenue funding and a government grant of £19.5 million for 2025–26 for to invest in measures that improve reliability, passenger experience and network connectivity, and the Mayor told me in his reply the money will be spent to achieve that, and that he will work with operators to improve performance.
I will continue to hold the operators and the Mayor to their commitments and to press for a bus service our community can depend on.