BUS drivers have expressed “anger and frustration” at the government’s “missed opportunity” to improve services nationwide.

Their comments came as the Department for Transport (DfT) responded yesterday to a parliamentary committee report entitled The Health of the Bus Market.

The MPs warned that more than 300 million bus services have been cut since 2014 and called on ministers to take action.

However, the DfT disagreed with several of the report’s recommendations.

RMT union general secretary Mick Cash slammed the government’s lacklustre response, saying his members were “angry, frustrated and disappointed at this missed opportunity to take action to address the massive decline in the bus industry.

“The government’s proposals for a national bus strategy aren’t going to deliver the necessary changes under deregulation and privatisation.

“This proves once and for all that the bus industry needs to be renationalised and run as a public service, not for profit.”