The financial results for First South West, operator of many of the commercial bus services in Cornwall, are now available on the Companies House website and they show the bus operator making a large operating loss of £4.6 million in 2022-23. This compares with a breakeven in 2021-22 and a profit of £1.5 million in 2020-21.
The submitted accounts can be downloaded here.
First South West is part of the very large First Group that includes bus and rail operations across the U.K. The First Group overall had a good year in 2022-23 with increased profits. The group is, therefore, able to support a loss making subsidiary such as First South West in the short term but is likely that they will want to see the south west operation return to profitability as soon as possible. What steps they will take to ensure this happens remains to be seen, but it is possible that some routes might be cut back. Already, some cutbacks have been made in First operations in the Somerset area. It is worrying times therefore for the bus network in Cornwall. Already we have seen First give notice to Cornwall Council to terminate the operation of the Truro park and ride service and they presumably will only continue to operate it in the long term if they can secure a much better deal from the Council.