Big boost for buses!

Good afternoon 

A significant win for us this week: the Government has announced £5bn to improve bus services and cycling in England.

This extra investment will be spent over five years on many of the improvements that we've been campaigning for. The Government has said it will fund:

• Higher frequency services, including in the evenings and at weekends
• More affordable, simpler bus fares
• Thousands of zero emission buses to help tackle climate change and clean up polluted air
• Support for local authorities to restore services that have been lost
• Bus priority schemes to help buses that are often delayed by traffic

With the help of our supporters, Campaign for Better Transport has led calls for these improvements, including in our Future of the bus report which we presented to the Government last year. 

This sizable investment is great news for communities up and down the country and the millions of people who rely on buses. We'll be working further on how it will be allocated as a National Bus Strategy is developed in the coming months.

You'll remember that our Christmas appeal asked for your support to help us improve bus services, and we're delighted that our work is having an impact, but of course we won't stop now. To support our campaigns, please do consider making a donation today.

Thank you for helping us secure this big boost for buses!

Too many small towns are transport deserts

Better public transport is sorely needed in small towns, many of which have become 'transport deserts', as our research methodology has shown this week. We looked at small towns in the south west and north east of England and found that 56 per cent are transport deserts or at risk of becoming one.

In some cases, towns which lost their railway stations in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s are now losing the bus services that were brought in to replace them.

Small towns have been sidelined for too long: the recent funding announced for buses and rail reopenings must include action to reconnect these transport deserts.

Until next time

Darren

Darren Shirley
Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport

Photo above by Chapendra on Flickr.