Council receives £47m to improve Derbyshire’s buses – promising more services and better value fares

Derbyshire County Council has announced that the Government has awarded them £47m to improve bus services in the county over the next two and a half years.

This funding will be used to provide more frequent buses and extended hours for vital services, boost punctuality and reliability, and introduce better value bus fares – especially for young people and those looking for work.

It will help towards an expansion of the ‘tap on and tap off’ system for paying for tickets and new transport hubs across the county. DCC also hopes to create more demand-responsive services for rural and semi-rural areas, as well as a new website and app which will cover all services – making journey planning much easier.

It is expected that work will start on delivering these improvements from October 2022. Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways assets and transport, Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, said: “To have the money finally confirmed is great news for everyone in the county.

“Bus services will become so much more attractive to more people and will mean less traffic on our roads. This will make a positive contribution to our approach to tacking climate change.

“We will build on the positive work to date and continue to work in partnership with all the bus companies on a wide range of projects to improve bus travel.”

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Last year the government published a new National Bus Strategy, which set out a vision for future improvements across England and how bus services can recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The strategy placed a requirement on the council and bus companies in the area to work together to create a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

Working with bus operators, district and borough councils, bus passenger groups, disability groups and other special interest organisations, a consultation was held last year, which asked the public what they wanted to see to improve bus services. The results helped to inform the BSIP which was submitted to the Government last year and asked for money to improve services across the county.

A partnership board, the BSIP Enhanced Partnership Board, has been set up to deliver the actions set out in the BSIP. It is chaired by Professor Margaret Bell, with Jeff Counsell, managing sirector of trentbarton, the vice chair.

Professor Bell said: “This funding is the outcome of a lot of hard work and commitment of council officers and public transport operators, who will continue to work together to make public transport a realistic alternative to the use of private cars in the future – delivering substantial benefits to health.”

Jeff Counsell added: “The allocation of this funding just goes to show what can be achieved when the public and private sectors work together for a common cause. I know that we, and all bus operators, are looking forward to delivering the BSIP outcomes in continued partnership with the county.”