Given that the South West has lagged behind many parts of the UK in terms of connectivity, transport has been a key focus for me. I am working to guarantee that every community in our constituency is connected through a bus route. In this pursuit, I recently conducted a survey to assess the local usage of bus services. These findings have been relayed to Local Transport Authorities who are submitting their respective bus proposals to the Department for Transport.
I welcomed the Government’s announcement that it would provide up to £60 million from the beginning of January until the end of March 2023 to enable bus operators to cap single adult fares at £2 per journey. To continue to help people with cost-of-living pressures, the Government is providing up to £200 million to continue capping single bus fares at £2 outside London.
Indeed, these actions undermine the misinformation stemmed from the Campaign for Better Transport. Please let me assure you that the Prime Minister did not say “cars should take precedence over buses in our town and city centres”. Similarly, the plan for drivers does not propose to weaken bus lane provision. It makes only two proposals with regards to bus lanes, firstly that they should normally be available to motorcyclists, unless there is a good reason not to, and secondly that bus lanes should normally only operate when buses are running or when traffic flows are heavy enough to delay buses. You can read the plan on the department’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/plan-for-drivers/the-plan-for-drivers
I am excited to upgrade our bus links for Totnes and South Devon and I welcome the Government’s support in doing so.