Derbyshire County Council has announced that it has been awarded £47m to improve bus services in the region over the next two-and-a-half years.
Confirmation of the funding comes after the council, in collaboration with local bus companies, submitted a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) to the UK government, which last year published a National Bus Strategy setting out a vision for future improvements across England and how bus services can recover from the Covid-19 pandemic
The £47m awarded to Derbyshire County Council will provides the money to help pay for more frequent buses and extended hours for vital services, improved bus punctuality and reliability, and better value bus fares.
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What’s more, it will fund the expansion of a ‘tap on and tap off’ system for paying for tickets, new transport hubs with real-time information to help connect bus services to other bus and train service,s and more demand-responsive services for rural and semi-rural areas.
It will also fund the development of a new website and app that will cover all services to make planning a journey easier.
It is expected that work will start on delivering the improvements from October 2022, according to the council.
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Derbyshire County Council 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 tackling 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.”
A partnership board, the BSIP Enhanced Partnership Board, has been set up to deliver the actions in the BSIP.
