Bus Queue?

Councils in the North of England and the Midlands were promised £3bn as "new funding to level up buses across England towards London standards". The amount has now been slashed to £1.4bn for the next 3 years (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/23/boris-johnsons-bus-back-better-red-wall-levelling-up-treasury-cuts-funding). London has always had much more money to provide Public Transport than other areas of the country. This dramatic reduction in funding will inevitably mean that cheap and reliable bus services cannot now be provided in many areas of the country. This is a great pity as:- a) the new bus services could be electrically-powered and b) cheap and reliable bus services might well reduce car useage/ownership. Both changes would help to reduce the harmful emissions, that exaccerbate the climate crisis and worsen air quality. Getting more people to use buses rather than cars, could also reduce congestion. This would facilitate safe cycling and walking for short journeys. There would also be time savings (reducing traffic jams), cost savings for the public and reductions in human death/disease (costs of poor air quality, especially in cities). The reduction in funding seems especially short-sighted at this time. People will only give up their cars, if proper alternative transport is available. That is certainly currently not the case, in areas outside London.