Dorset Council has submitted its bid for the Government’s Bus Back Better £3 billion fund to revitalise the nation’s bus services.
In March the Government launched Bus Back Better, a new National Bus Strategy for England with aims to rejuvenate local bus services by making them:
- More attractive for passengers
- More affordable
- Easier to understand and use
- Faster and more reliable
- Greener
This strategy requires each authority to produce a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) to coordinate services and future investment through either an Enhanced Partnership (EP) or Franchise approach.
Dorset Council has developed their BSIP by working closely with local bus operators, community and business voices, bus passengers, and the voluntary and health transport sectors.
This BSIP is an ambitious plan. It focuses on revitalising the local bus network, reversing the decline in local bus passenger use and to have more buses, to more places and operating for longer periods of the day.
The key aims of the BSIP are:
- To significantly increase the number of people using local buses across Dorset
- To increase daily services with a mix of fixed and flexible services across rural and urban areas of Dorset
- To develop a range of on-demand public transport services delivered by a mix of operators by identifying gaps in the current local bus network
- To continue to protect Dorset’s environment by moving to a decarbonised local bus fleet
- Create and maintain a comprehensive network of travel options to link up communities and reduce rural isolation.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
“This plan is just the start. To get people to use the bus we must have a long-term plan and a guarantee of long-term Government funding for at least 5 years so that we can change people’s views and build their confidence to use the bus.
Cllr. Noc Lacey-Clarke, The Cabinet Lead for Environment, Travel and Harbours, said:
“We are keen to develop a bus strategy that is available to everyone, with particular attention to access to training, education and work.”
Once the BSIP is submitted the council will wait for an announcement from Government on whether they will be awarded money from the fund and how much. Once the amount is known then an amended BSIP and action plan will take the plans forward.
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