Hampshire County Council has signed up to ‘Bus Back Better’ - the Government’s National Bus Strategy setting out a vision for the future of bus services (outside of London) – with the aim of improving services for passengers and increasing bus use.

Agreement to the County Council’s approach for delivering the strategy, and approval to create an Enhanced Partnership Scheme with bus operators was given by Councillor Rob Humby, Deputy Leader of Hampshire County Council and Executive Lead Member for Economy, Transport and Environment at his recent decision day (17 June).

 Councillor Rob Humby, deputy leader and executive lead member for economy, transport and environment said: “The County Council supports Government’s ambition to improve the speed and permanency of this COVID recovery. The National Bus Strategy is an exciting opportunity to improve bus services to make them more attractive, encouraging more people to leave the car at home and take the bus to work, school or leisure. Anything we can do to reduce bus journey times will help to ease congestion on our roads and, in turn, support our Climate Emergency work to reduce carbon emissions, as well as boost the local economy.

“I have noted that nationally, the Government has committed £3 billion in funding and that we await confirmation of Hampshire’s share - to support the improvement of bus services in our area.

“However, given that the Department for Transport (DfT) has set clear deadlines for authorities to meet and, in turn, qualify for funding, I am happy to support the recommendations for applying the strategy in Hampshire.”

“The County Council’s long history of working closely in partnership with bus operators in Hampshire, largely on a voluntary basis, has worked well for Hampshire, with the county bucking the national trend pre Covid-19, in terms of the number of passengers travelling on bus services increasing year on year. This, together with our investment in schemes such as the  Eclipse Bus Rapid Transit scheme between Fareham and Gosport, quality infrastructure like Andover Bus Station and the use of  Government funding to provide contactless ticket machines and live, up-to-date passenger information at bus stops, puts us in a really strong position for improving services further through the Bus Back Better drive.”

Now that the County Council has agreed to take forward the strategy, as part of an Enhanced Partnership Scheme, Formal DfT approval will now be needed by the Department for Transport (DfT).  The Partnership, if agreed, will be required to be in place by April 2022. In the meantime, the County Council must develop a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) for submission to the DfT by October 2021.