Suffolk misses out on £77m to improve bus services
The government has allocated £7bn towards improving bus services outside of London - but Suffolk seems to have missed out
Last updated 4th Apr 2022
Suffolk’s bid for more than £77million to upgrade bus services across the county has been rejected by the Government in its £7billion package of transport upgrades.
Suffolk’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) bid lodged at the end of last year as part of the Government’s Bus Back Better scheme requested £77m over three years and £107m over five years for a series of upgrades.
They included daily fare caps on routes, a pocket Park and Ride service in Ipswich, merging Ipswich’s two main bus stations and a contactless or Oyster card style ticketing system.
But Suffolk failed to secure a single penny in the Department for Transport’s announcement on Monday morning.
Neighbours Norfolk will get £49.6m.
The DfT said: “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.”
Councillor Richard Smith, Suffolk County Council’s Conservative cabinet member for economic development, transport and waste, said: “We submitted an ambitious bid for up to £107m over five years.
“The funding we bid for would have given us a real opportunity to transform bus services in Suffolk.
“It is disappointing but it should be remembered that this funding would have been over and above our existing budget of £1.58m.
“Communities and bus users can be assured that we will continue to strive to provide the best possible service and infrastructure with the existing funding and through working together with operators through the proposed Enhanced Partnership.”
Other ambitions in Suffolk’s bid included:
- Simplified services and multi-operator ticketing
- Expansion to other areas for the experimental Katch electric bus service piloted between Framlingham and Wickham Market
- Lower fares for those aged below 25
- Improved routes to and from tourism hotspots
- New bus corridors through Ipswich and automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) enforcement of bus lanes
- Integrating school bus services with regular public network routes