North East Derbyshire MP Louise Jones has welcomed a multi-million pound Government funding boost to improve bus services in the region just weeks after critics expressed disappointment over plans in the Autumn Budget to increase the single bus fare cap from £2 to £3.
Labour MP Ms Jones met with the Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, during her visit to Kelstedge, between Chesterfield and Matlock, on Friday, November 22, to highlight an overall Government funding allocation of £81m to improve buses across the East Midlands.
The regional funding is part of the Government’s wider allocated £955m to support bus services nationwide until 2026 with £712m going to local authorities to improve bus services and a further £243m to be made available for bus operators.
It has also been welcomed by the East Midlands Combined County Authority which recently announced that it had received and will be overseeing more than £40m of the regional funding to support Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire as a lead authority on local transport.
Ms Jones said: “Great to have Louise Haigh, the Secretary of State for Transport, visit North East Derbyshire today (November 22) to speak about the whopping £40m extra allocated to buses in our area. This will mean more frequent services, just like the added X17 bus through Kelstedge.”
She added that increasing the frequency, availability and reliability of public transport is her priority over the next few years and she said she was delighted to discuss the positive impact of the funding with the Transport Secretary.
The investment will see local authorities given the funding and power to improve bus frequency, increase fare discounts, and enhance reliability and it is to be targeted at rural and deprived communities nationwide with the goal of ensured, shared growth.
During the Transport Secretary’s visit, she met with Ms Jones and Stagecoach representatives to discuss how the funding could bring important improvements to services including those which connect rural communities with job opportunities and how the money could help passengers attend vital hospital appointments.
Ms Haigh said: “The value of regular and reliable bus services cannot be understated, especially in rural locations where being connected is vital.
“For far too long, passengers across Derbyshire have suffered from unreliable services with buses hugely delayed, or not even turning up at all.
“This funding kickstarts the bus revolution to bring an end to the postcode lottery of bus services, drive economic growth and make sure people have proper access to jobs and opportunities.
“We’ve already committed over £150m to extend the bus fare cap and keep fares low, and this £81m investment of further funding in the East Midlands will mean local routes are protected, reliability is improved and the passenger is put first.”
The funding aims to ensure more urban areas will be able to maintain high levels of service – while other areas will be able to offer more services – and it also aims to ensure that ‘lifeline services’ between towns and hospitals can continue transporting patients to vital appointments, supporting the Government’s ambitions to reform the NHS.
An additional £150m has already been committed by the Government to extend the new single bus fare cap which will now run until December 31, 2025, which it argues will ensure the flat rate for journeys remains at £3 which it also claims will enable savings of up to 80per cent on some routes.
However, the Labour Government’s Autumn Budget announcement to increase the single bus fare cap from £2 to £3 was criticised by Cllr Charlotte Cupit, Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport at Conservative-led Derbyshire County Council, and The Confederation of Passenger Transport.
The original £2 single bus fare cap had been introduced by the previous Conservative Government to address the cost of living crisis and is due to expire in December, 2024, and the new £3 cap is expected to run until the end of 2025.
Cllr Cupit said she had been disappointed to see the scrapping of the £2 bus fare cap which she said had encouraged more people to travel by bus and had helped people to better manage daily travel costs and expenses.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport also stated that a single bus fare cap increase to £3 will pose challenges to many passengers, and Greenpeace stated the move did not consider the poorest in society and it made ‘no political, economic or environmental sense’.
Conservative-controlled Derbyshire County Council has also been rolling out a £47m Bus Improvement Plan which has seen an 8.4per cent increase in passengers since 2022 and two new bus stations and work at eight other locations to promote public transport and help reduce congestion and CO2 emissions.
A further £200m City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding was also announced in the Government’s Autumn Budget which will be aimed at improving local transport in the country’s largest city regions.
