The future of the bus
Hello
What do you think of this idea?
- Drivers who scrap their old, polluting cars could be given 'mobility credits' for 30 days' free travel on public transport.
- Mobility credits could also be given when people move home or get a new job, to encourage them to check out local bus services.
This is just one idea in our report, The future of the bus.
Last week the Chancellor announced £200m to "put the wheels back on the Great British Bus". But with dwindling bus services leaving many communities disconnected, £200m should be just the beginning. We've put together some recommendations for other things the Government can do to support this vital transport mode.
Buses are the most-used form of public transport. They're also the only form of transport for which the Government has no strategy. So crucially we need a National Bus Strategy which focuses on:
- Increasing the use of bus services across the country
- Better integration of buses with other transport
- A clear route to zero emission buses
- Growth in use of technology to improve services
Buses also need to be funded in a more coherent way, including investment in a new generation of interchanges connecting bus with rail, and digital innovations like account-based ticketing.
There's a pressing need to accelerate the move to zero emission vehicles. The Government should set a deadline for all new buses to be zero emissions (electric or hydrogen) by 2025. To support this, it should invest in the UK bus industry, creating high skilled jobs and making the UK a world leader in zero emission buses.
Bus fares have risen 61 per cent since 2009 – much faster than rail and motoring. So we want to see bus travel made cheaper, including a local trial of free or low-price bus travel to see what impact this would have.
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