Bus services bill to help deliver more regular services for passengers

Photo: Journeaux

Bus services bill to help deliver more regular services for passengers

A new buses Bill that will give Greater Manchester powers to drive up bus use and help cut congestion has been introduced to Parliament.

Buses are England’s most used form of public transport with over 4.65 billion journeys completed in 2014/15 – and this is the first piece of new legislation since 2008.

The Bus Services Bill will give councils new powers to work in partnership with companies to improve journeys for passengers, and bring in new technology including on-board Wi-Fi.

Without buses, rush hour congestion in city centres would be 21 per cent higher costing millions of pounds in lost time.

Since 2009-10 bus journeys in Greater Manchester have fallen by seven million to 213 million a year, according to the most recent figures. The Bill will enable the council to deliver more services that passengers want, and drive the number of journeys up.

Data about fares, timetables and routes will be openly available so software developers can produce apps that tell passengers when the next service will turn up. It is estimated this alone will lead to an extra five million journeys a year.

The proposals are designed to improve public transport to help cut congestion and unlock untapped economic growth across the country.

All councils will be able to enter into new “enhanced partnerships” with bus companies under the new law.