MPs on the Transport Select Committee have called for more cash to support the Government’s plans to improve bus services.
The committee also called for new guidance on how local authorities can support ‘socially and economically necessary services’, which might be unprofitable to maintain.
MPs said that the National Bus Strategy published in 2021 was ‘ambitious and full of good ideas’ but must be supported by extra funding, This is needed to build a bus network ‘fit for the post-pandemic world’ with more investment in cashless payments, smart ticketing, priority bus routes and demand responsive services.
The cross-party committee also called for more consistent funding to achieve the Government’s goal of having 4,000 zero-emission buses on UK’s roads by the end of the current parliament.
Efforts to encourage people out of their cars by making bus services more reliable should also be prioritised to help cut carbon emissions.
Committee chair Iain Stewart said: ‘The Government’s 2021 National Bus Strategy recognised that something had to be done.
‘We warmly welcomed its ambition and invention, as did many others in the sector, but our report finds that, while many of the Strategy’s ideas were on the right track, progress in implementing them has sometimes been too slow, and in some cases, too piecemeal.’
This article first appeared on localgov.co.uk.
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