 |
| Service 51 in Silverdale |
In a major announcement today, the Department for Transport has published its plans for improved funding for bus services in England. (Read about it here)
A total of £220M is to be made available to bring about a number of measures intended to improve buses and services in the coming financial year beginning in April 2020.
There are specific schemes for Cornwall and the West Midlands included in the total as well as a fund of £50M intended to facilitate the conversion of a demonstration town's entire bus network to electric vehicle operation.
Also included is a National Bus Strategy for England, whereby for the first time ever the government will set out its strategic goals for the industry. This will be linked to a long-term funding settlement and review of existing bus funding that will hopefully allow a move away from short-term funding and bring some much needed stability.
Amongst a range of other measures is a proposal to incentivise multi-operator ticketing (the ability to use a ticket bought from one bus company on another company's services) which would be very useful for passengers in the Lune Valley as well as Silverdale and the north Fylde.
A sum of £20M is set aside for yet more so called innovative "on demand" type services. These are the current "in-thing" in the bus world at the moment with a number of schemes operating in places such as Oxford and Merseyside although none of them can claim to be a success.
Local Bus Funding
Of most interest to Lancaster bus passengers is the announcement that Lancashire County Council will receive £751,576 in 2020/21 to improve existing conventional bus services, bring back services previously lost or start completely new routes. Although a sizeable sum, it isn't enough to bring back all those services lost in 2016 when the county council reduced its spending on bus service support by around £4M, but it will allow some improvements and Lancaster Bus Users' Group will be making sure that the Lancaster District gets at least its fare share.
The County Council has to submit proposals on how the money will be spent by 13 March if it wants to receive it by 1st April or by 26 June if it's happy to wait until later in the year although later payments will be subject to the money still being available!
There is an obligation on the council to consult with local members of parliament and also to show that a degree of "community involvement" has taken place - something the BUG can certainly help with!
We have already started the ball rolling with local county councillors and will keep readers up to date via this blog as things progress.
