Bus Service Improvement Plan gets the green light
Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Our Executive has approved for our Bus Service Improvement Plan to be published by 30 October 2021.
This follows a two-week consultation which aimed to better understand what would encourage people to use buses more.
The consultation was developed following the government’s announcement in March of a new National Bus Strategy, Bus Back Better. The Bus Service Improvement Plan is our first step towards an Enhanced Partnership being made between us and local bus operators.
About the plan
The Bus Service Improvement Plan measures include:
Short term (2021 to 2022/23)
- ‘Get on Board’ campaign to encourage bus travel, post pandemic restrictions
- concessionary travel for young people
- introduction of later/earlier and Sunday journeys on selected core routes
- centralised production of all timetables, bus stop publicity and single online portal to access all bus providers information
- creation of a passenger charter
Medium term (2022/23 to 2024/25)
- multi-operator ticketing and fare capping
- strategy to further roll out real-time passenger information
- recruit a volunteer network of ‘ambussadors’
Long term (2024 and beyond)
- development of rural interchange hubs
- zero-emission operations on the busway network, to benefit the wide area around Dunstable and Luton
"The number of responses was fantastic..."
Our Executive Member for Community Services, Councillor Ian Dalgarno, said:
Thank you to all those who took the time to take part in the Bus Service Improvement Plan survey. The number of responses was fantastic and has enabled us to better understand how people feel about current bus services in Central Bedfordshire – both good and bad.
The information provided by the public can now feed into the development of our Enhanced Partnership which we will consult with residents again.
The Bus Service Improvement Plan contains high-level vision and key interventions, and the Enhanced Partnership and the schemes agreed will explain in detail how the Bus Service Improvement Plan measures will be delivered, in order to grow bus patronage from the coronavirus pandemic.
Find out more about how we're planning to improve bus services.