'Better buses on way' with £245m funding

PLYMOUTH TO GET £5.2MILLION PER YEAR FOR THREE YEARS

- By ALISON STEPHENSON

THE Government has promised that better buses and more services are on their way with a £245.9 million boost for the South West as part of a £3 billion national funding package over the next three years.

Roads and buses minister Simon Lightwood, MP, has been in Plymouth to announce the new multiyear funding settlements for bus services in the UK.

He said councils would have the freedom to spend allocations in whatever way they see fit, whether it was lowering the prices of fares, introducing new routes and zero-emission buses or creating safer bus stops.

‘And they could make long-term investments which they had been held back from doing in recent years as previously funding was issued on an annual basis.

The allocations bring together various bus funding streams into one source.

The announcement follows the Bus Services Act becoming law in October which gives local leaders the power to run local services how they wish and provides greater protection to socially necessary routes.

It is part of the government's shift to devolve power from Whitehall and ensure services are run “for people, not profit”.

As part of a wider attempt to make public transport cheaper, Labour said they have extended the £3 bus fare cap, frozen rail fares “for the first time in 30 years” and designed the state-owned railway company Great British Railways to “deliver better value for passengers”.