MidlandRed.net

Just heard on BBC Radio H & W that Yeomans are making major cutbacks in Hereford from the start of next year.

Indeed. They have given notice the the Local Authority that they intend to withdraw all of their commercial work, except for Service 74 and 78. The LA approached other operators in the area to see if any wished to take them over, but as far as I know this has come to nothing as the route will go out to tender. I suspect Yeomans to win most of these and continue to run them, but with the aid of Herefordshire Council money.

Thanks Adam for your informative response . It would make sense from the operators point to get "help" to run the services by tender. I imagine the forthcoming extra cash from the government will help with the subsidies to keep existing route going but maybe not go towards any extra services.

Yeomans have released a statement to the public regarding the withdrawal of their services, it was on their Facebook page last night. It is rather critical of the Local Authority for not helping out sooner. Gossip and rumours suggest they are planning the tender to keep this work, which is good news for the staff there - assuming they win the contract(s).

Herefordshire Council's announcement made Yeomans out to be the bad boys (along the lines of "we asked them to wait until April before withdrawing services but they refused"), so I'm not surprised that Yeomans have worded their press release in the way they have.

As Yeomans say that loadings are still only 50% of what they were in 2019, the mass withdrawals sadly seem justified now that CBSSG has been replaced by less generous funding.