Bus boost Region gets £42m to improve services

MILLIONS of pounds will be spent on improving bus services across the West of England, the government has announced.

- Hannah BAKER

The £246m cash injection will be used to buy new vehicles, upgrade infrastructure and keep fares low, the Department for Transport said on Friday.

The multiyear funding will give councils across the region - from Bristol to Devon to Cornwall - the freedom to spend their allocations however they like.

The West of England Combined Authority area, which covers Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, will receive £42.4m.

Elsewhere, Cornwall Council will receive around £30m, Devon and Torbay £43m and Plymouth £14m.

Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said the investment was “another vote of confidence” in the West Country.