The new managing director of Go-Ahead London, the capital’s biggest bus firm, says hikes in National Insurance and rising inflation have made several bus routes “unsustainable” financially, says the Standard.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves, in her October 2024 Budget, increased the rate of employers’ National Insurance from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, starting from April 2025. It was announced last week that the rate of inflation (for December 2025) increased to 3.4 per cent, though this was the first rise since July.

Andy Edwards indicated that due to rising operating costs – likely to be staff wages and the cost of diesel and electricity – Go-Ahead London was making a loss on several of the routes it operates on behalf of Transport for London.

He said:

“After a detailed review of our financial performance, it is clear that a number of routes are no longer sustainable under their current contract terms. These contracts have been significantly impacted by factors including increased national insurance contributions and the continued pressure of higher inflation on our operating costs, which have not been offset by the contract price adjustments in our contracts.

“As a result, these routes are under-performing financially and cannot be maintained at a loss without putting pressure on the wider business.”

Many London bus firms have raised concerns about the impact of road congestion on their operations.

This causes buses to be delayed and deters passengers from using buses. It also means that bus companies lose out on bonus payments awarded by TfL for the amount of mileage they achieve.

According to TfL’s latest data, all eight routes had an average speed in December of less than 12mph.

The 155 route, which runs between St George’s hospital and Lambeth Road, was the worst – an average of just 8.1mph.

(Picture: Yay Images)