Council secures £30m from Government for Hucknall and Bulwell bus travel

The Department for Transport (DfT) funding to level up local bus services is the latest award from the Government's bus transformation programme.

Coun Neil Clarke (Con), chairman of the transport and environment committee at the county council, said: “The Government’s funding announcement for local bus improvements is fantastic news and is totally in line with the council’s aspirations to improve bus travel for local people.

“Our officers will now work on securing the indicative funding alongside working with bus operators to develop our proposals and look at the best way to spend this money.

"This will include addressing the issues that came through strongly in our consultation such as integrated ticketing and travel times.”

The bus service improvement proposals follow the Government’s national bus strategy, Bus Back Better in which local transport authorities were asked to publish a plan to improve local bus provision.

There are two plans for Nottinghamshire which include Greater Nottinghamshire, working in partnership with Nottingham City Council, and the areas which make up the rest of Nottinghamshire.

Around 3,500 residents and businesses across the county responded to last summer’s consultation which that were submitted to the Government for funding bids.

Coun Clarke added: “I am very supportive of improving transport options across the county as part of our commitment to supporting people to health, work and leisure.

"This funding will also help with our environmental aspirations in reducing our carbon footprint.

“We already have a well-loved bus service across Nottinghamshire with customer satisfaction rates at 94 per cent.

“With the additional funding we’ll be able to build on the £4.1 million we already invest in supporting bus services and deliver a first-class bus network for thousands of passengers across the county.”