'Moment of reckoning' coming for Potters Bar bus route

Cllr Jeremy Newmark (Lab, Borehamwood Cowley Hill) and Cllr Morris Bright (Elstree), leader of the council’s Conservative group, made the comments during a Cabinet meeting yesterday (Wednesday, 11 September) as councillors agreed to provide further funding for the route.

The route’s first year, from September 2023, was entirely funded with £183,600 from the council’s Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) pot. Additional money from that pot means the route will now continue until the end of April 2025.

A cake to celebrate the launch of the 84B Potters Bar to Barnet bus. (Image: Will Durrant)

But funding for the full second year has not yet been finalised. Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) have provided £83,000, but an additional £65,000 is needed to keep it running until September 2025.

Efforts are continuing to secure funding from other stakeholders, including £50,000 from Barnet Council and £15,000 from Transport for London.

Cllr Newmark told councillors yesterday that Cllr Barry Rawlings, leader of Barnet Council, had made “a commitment … in principle to provide transitional funding”.

“Things clearly move slowly in Barnet in terms of getting them to sign on the dotted line, but I shall be making every effort to remind him of his commitment,” he added.

But, after the meeting, Cllr Rawlings told the Local Democracy Reporting Service his council “does not have a budget or available funding to contribute to this, or any other bus service”.

And, while operator Galleon/Vectare and HCC are “confident” passenger numbers can continue to grow, cabinet member for transport Cllr Nik Oakley (Lab, Borehamwood Kenilworth) warned Hertsmere would be “stretched” to make the route “an entirely commercial operation”.

Hertsmere's Planning, Infrastructure and Transport cabinet member Cllr Nik Oakley (Lab, Borehamwood Kenilworth). (Image: Will Durrant)

She described it as a “use it or lose it situation”, with passenger numbers vital to securing its long-term future. Council officers have recommended that CIL funding should not be used for the service beyond September 2025.

Between launch in September 2023 and June 2024, an average of 4,338 journeys were made each month – around 145 per day. “Nearly half” of passengers are people who are elderly and disabled, Cllr Oakley said, and there has been a gradual growth in passengers month-on-month.

The operator is paid £600 per day to run the service and, in its first year, the subsidy of £183,600 from Hertsmere Borough Council covered around 72 per cent of the total cost of running the route, with the remaining costs covered through revenue and other grants.

To cover the second year costs, subsidies totalling around £148,000 are needed, with a hoped for reduction to around £118,000 for the following year if passenger numbers continue to improve. Council officers said it would be a “success” if numbers could grow by a further 20 per cent.

Cllr Christian Gray (Lab, Potters Bar Furzefield) described the route as a “lifeline for Potters Bar”.

He said: “We often refer to it as running to the hospital, but what you have to understand in Potters Bar is most of our GP surgeries have outsourced all of their testing to the hospital in Barnet – so you have people going for simple blood tests and so on.”

Cllr Bright and Cllr Harvey Cohen (Con, Elstree), shadow member for transport, backed Cllr Newmark’s call for Barnet Council and TfL to contribute the “relatively small amounts” requested.

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Cllr Cohen said: “It’s heartening to see that the evidence now presented clearly demonstrates a growing demand for this service which is utilised by residents across all age ranges.

“Our party would strongly support an extension of this service to Sundays and evenings, which would further enhance its accessibility and convenience for our residents.”

The route currently uses a single bus, and runs Monday to Saturday between 5.50am and 7.10pm.