Bus Back Better - in some places

[whole diary]

[grahame]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cheaper-and-better-buses-in-7-billion-package-to-level-up-transport-outside-london

Funding for major local transport schemes across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) will speed up journeys and make services more reliable and greener.

This was the funding "promised" to help level up England outside London

Thirty-one counties, city regions and unitary authorities have been chosen for funding to level up their local bus services in the latest awards from the government’s bus transformation programme.

Including earlier awards, just under two-thirds of England’s population outside London will benefit from new investment to make their buses more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, cheaper, or greener. Improvements will also include integrated ticketing and more bus lanes to speed up journeys.

The successful areas have been chosen because of their ambition to repeat the success achieved in London – which drove up bus usage and made the bus a natural choice for everyone, not just those without cars.

As the government stated in last year’s national bus strategy, Bus Back Better, areas not showing sufficient ambition, including for improvements to bus priority, would not be funded.  

In the South West, Somerset have £9 million and Devon and Cornwall more. Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire have none. WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) have £105 million.  Really, really sad here in Wiltshire where there has been massive work and ambition and great co-operative work between council, operators and community.   Frankly gobsmacked that we got zero!

[grahame]

Improvements in the pilot area, Cornwall, will start next week, funded by £23.5 million from the government.

From 10 April, most bus fares in the county will be slashed, with short hop fares down by 20%, longer journeys costing up to 40% less and some bus passes cut by almost 50%.

Passes for unlimited bus travel across Cornwall will cost just £5 per day (down from £9 now) or £20 per week. Town zones offer great value travel for just £2.50 per day or £10 for a week. For commuters travelling 5 days a week, that works out at just £2 a day or £1 per journey.

All tickets will be available on all operators’ services and in the summer contactless tap-on and tap-off payments will be introduced and buses will connect easily with the main rail line at stations across the county.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

Buses are the most popular way of getting around in this country – but for too long people outside of London have had a raw deal.

The investment we’re making today to ramp up the bus revolution will drive down fares at a time when people’s finances are tight and help connect communities across England.

[grahame]

See http://option247.uk/bbb_202204.html

[ChrisB]

Really, really sad here in Wiltshire where there has been massive work and ambition and great co-operative work between council, operators and community.   Frankly gobsmacked that we got zero!

As the government stated in last year’s national bus strategy, Bus Back Better, areas not showing sufficient ambition, including for improvements to bus priority, would not be funded.  

[ChrisB]

Has anyone found the amounts & councils/authorities awarded the Bus Back Better money? The list doesn't seem to have alink to the breakdown

[grahame]

Has anyone found the amounts & councils/authorities awarded the Bus Back Better money? The list doesn't seem to have alink to the breakdown

Isn't that the list on the end of See http://option247.uk/bbb_202204.html ?

[ChrisB]

Yes it is - also at https://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/bsip-funding-announced/

[bradshaw]

Here is the unsuccessful Dorset bid.
https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/documents/35024/1667934/Dorset+Council+BSIP.pdf/ad8141a3-0873-c70b-fc56-0cc0add057af

Is it just me that finds it difficult to understand what they intend other than the concept?

[Ralph Ayres]

The trouble with "areas not showing sufficient ambition ... would not be funded" is that it does nothing to help push those local authorities who are ambivalent to public transport into actually doing anything positive. They'll be perfectly happy to carry on doing nothing. A similar thing happened a couple of years ago when the Prime Minister declared "a new golden age for cycling" and the local authority covering his own constituency failed to get funding because they didn't manage to come up with proposals of any real substance.

[grahame]

The trouble with "areas not showing sufficient ambition ... would not be funded" is that ...

It's clever wording from the government because authorities that complain they get nothing are in effect publicising the presumed fact that they did not show ambition.

There are three types of areas
1. Those that put in really good bids and were funded
2. Those that put in mediocre, poor, or no bids and were not funded
3. Those that put in really good bids but were NOT funded for other reasons - perhaps because there simple wasn't enough money to fund all the goos bids, or more cynically because it was judged that the funding if provided would not make a huge difference to a future "popularity poll of politicians" - a.k.a. an election

Wiltshire is firmly in that third area - "Wiltshire did a really fantastic bid" writes an industry expert.  I have no idea how good the Gloucestershire, Swindon, Hampshire or Dorset bids were, but I expect one or two of them were pretty good to.  The pattern is the outcomes (who got the money) seems to be regional and not at an LTA^▸ (Local Transport Authority) level, and therefore there were deeper and darker forces at work in choosing the winners and losers.