Disappointing news on measures to improve buses across Derbyshire

Following on from the announcement of the National Bus Strategy, Councils across the Country were asked to develop a Bus Service Improvement Plan to improve services in their area.

The Government initially announced that there would be a £3 billion pot to revolutionise bus travel – but this was cut to less than half, with the final pot for bids being £1.2 billion.

70 local authorities across the country bid for funding, but only 31 successfully gained any funding.

This has led the charity Buser Users to raise concerns for those areas that were unsuccessful in their funding bids, believing the impact on local communities could prove disastrous.

For us locally, Derbyshire County Council had bid for £105m but will only receive £47m.

With Derbyshire only receiving less than half what was bid for, it’s difficult to know at the moment which elements of the plan will not go forward and if the reduced amount will affect any existing services.

You can view the Derbyshire Bus Service Improvement Plan by clicking here