The package, worth £220 million in the first year, will
see many cuts to services reversed. It will create
‘express lanes’ for buses in the West Midlands and
elsewhere. It will invest in new ways of providing more
frequent public transport in the countryside and other
places where conventional buses have dwindled or
disappeared. And new apps will also be developed that
draw together information on bus routes, fares, and
timetables from different bus operators across England
into one place.
The government will also commit to
the UK’s
first-ever long-term bus strategy and funding
settlement, including support for local authorities who
want to create London-style franchised services in
their areas.
Superbus networks will have low fares and there will be
more bus priority measures to speed up journeys and
make them more reliable.
The first Superbus network will be introduced across
the county of Cornwall. The fares pilot is part of a
project which is improving the quality, frequency and
capacity of rail and bus services to create an
integrated public transport system for Cornwall.
Buses are disproportionately used by people on lower
incomes and Cornwall has been chosen as a county with
significant deprivation and social exclusion. For many
people, the cost and difficulty of travel is a major
barrier to getting work. The Superbus service will
connect them with jobs, education and evenings out.
Other Superbus networks will be rolled out next year,
with the focus on places that suffer similar problems
and where better public transport could significantly
improve people’s lives, and will consider improvements
in frequency and bus prioritisation.
The package also includes over £20 million for new bus
express lanes in the West Midlands to make their buses,
which carry over one million people per day, faster and
more reliable.
A further £30 million will be paid directly to local
authorities in 2020 to 2021, to help them improve
current bus services or restore those that have been
lost.
Britain’s first all-electric bus town will see an
entire place’s city buses changed over to wireless
electric vehicles. Country buses will be hybrids, using
electric power within the built-up area and diesel
outside. Pollution and operating costs will be
dramatically reduced. The location is still being
discussed with local authorities and operators and will
be announced later.
The long-term funding package will be announced as part
of the 2020 spending review. It will set out our plans
to support local authorities which want to pursue
London-style bus systems in their areas. The area where
such proposals are most advanced, is Greater
Manchester, which is shortly due to consult on adopting
a proposed franchised model in 2020. The package will
also support other areas which would prefer to pursue
other forms of co-ordination, such as voluntary or
statutory partnerships with operators.
