Amanda Martin MP has today backed the Labour Government’s transformative plans to deliver better buses across Portsmouth by providing £4.8m in funding in to Portsmouth City Council. This sits alongside an additional £14million allocated to Hampshire County Council, that Portsmouth residents will also benefit from.
The investment has been designated to enhance popular routes, protect rural services and increase bus use for shopping, socialising and commuting. It will help prevent service reductions on at-risk routes and improve punctuality, to bring an end to the current postcode lottery of unreliable services.
Totalling £955 million across England, the funding represents a record level of recent investment for bus improvements for the majority of areas, alongside once-in-a[1]generation reform to deliver London-style bus services to every corner of the country. Under the Conservatives, bus services in England’s regions outside London collapsed, with thousands of bus services cut, and almost 300 million fewer miles driven by buses per year, since 2010. Across Portsmouth, alone, bus miles declined by 11.4%.
As part of this investment, the way funding is allocated has been reformed. The reforms will allocate funding based on need and will end the Conservative’s wasteful system of competitive bidding for funding, which wastes resources and delays decisions.
This funding announcement comes alongside the Government’s plans to deliver the biggest overhaul to the country’s bus services in a generation, and call time on four decades of failed deregulation.
The Labour Government is expanding the power to take back control of local bus services to every community, and is speeding up the process of delivering public control of buses by removing barriers to bus franchising and public ownership.
The funding announcement is the latest stop on the Government’s journey to better buses, with a new Buses Bill to be introduced to Parliament in the coming months.
Commenting on the announcement, Amanda Martin MP said:
“I am delighted that the Transport Secretary has confirmed £4.8m of new bus funding across my constituency. With a further £14million for Hampshire which we will also see the benefits of.”
“People across our city are tired of unreliable, infrequent bus services holding them back from opportunities after a decade of neglect of our local bus services.”
“This new Government has a plan to deliver better buses across the country, and this funding boost is another crucial stop on that journey.”
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said:
“Buses are the lifeblood of communities, but the system is broken. Too often, passengers are left waiting hours for buses that don’t turn up – and some have been cut off altogether.”
“That’s why we’re reforming funding to deliver better buses across the country and end the postcode lottery of bus services.”
“And it’s why we’re providing over £1bn of funding to keep fares down, protect local routes and deliver more reliable services.”
“This is part of our wider plan to put passengers first and give every community the power to take back control of their bus services through franchising or public ownership.”
“By delivering better buses, we’ll ensure people have proper access to jobs and opportunities – powering economic growth in every corner of the country.”
