George Eustice, Member of Parliament for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, has today welcomed £3 billion in new funding for bus services to deliver the most ambitious reform to the sector in generations.
The Prime Minister announced the new funding, along with a ‘New National Bus Strategy’. The new strategy will benefit local communities with more frequent, more reliable, easier to use and understand, better coordinated and cheaper bus services.
The strategy will require Cornwall Council to work in partnership with bus operators to improve services for passengers in order to be eligible for funding in future.
Councils and operators will be expected to provide:
- Simpler single bus fares with daily price caps, so people can use the bus as many times a day as they need without facing mounting costs.
- More Services in the evenings and at the weekends.
- Integrated services and ticketing across all transport modes in the area, so people can easily move from bus to train.
- Easy to access information, including online, so that services are simple to use.
- All buses to accept contactless payments.
This new funding builds upon the announcement last year that Cornwall would be home to the UK’s first ‘Superbus’ network; with investment-driven towards more frequent public transport in the countryside and rural places where often the remaining local services have often struggled to meet demand.
Following the announcement George commented, “Creating an integrated public transport system for Cornwall is an important step forward in ensuring that our communities are supported.
“Since I was elected, I have made clear that regeneration was my number one priority and this includes improving and renewing our public transport network. This new National Strategy Bus Strategy, backed by £3 billion, will help make to make this a reality – paving the way for simpler fares, more reliable services, and better connections across Cornwall”
The Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps MP, also added, “Buses are this country’s favourite way of getting around. They help us get to school, to the GP, or to the shops – but services across England are patchy, and it’s frankly not good enough.
“The quality of the bus service you receive shouldn’t be dependent on where you live. Everyone deserves to have access to cheap, reliable and quick bus journeys.
“The strategy I’m proud to unveil today will completely overhaul services, ensuring we build back better from the pandemic. Key to it is the new deal it offers to councils – we will provide unprecedented funding, but we need councils to work in partnership with operators, and the Government, to develop the services of the future.”
