Several councils in region set to benefit from £10m investment in bus services

The Government is set to deliver a further £10.5 million to support local buses into 2025, with Roads Minister Richard Holden confirming that several local authorities in the West Midlands will receive the second £10 million allocations of the Bus Service Improvement Plan+ (BSIP+) for 2024-25.

Shropshire Council, Staffordshire County Council, Telford and Wrekin Council and Worcestershire County Council, which covers Bewdley, Kidderminster and Stourport, have all receive new funding for the next two years, while Stoke-on-Trent Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority received larger amounts to cover a three year period.

Shropshire will receive £1,490,492 for 2023/24 and 2024/25, Staffordshire will receive £1,327,673 for the same period, Telford & Wrekin will receive £650,938 for the two years and Worcestershire will receive £1,429,686 each year.

Meanwhile, Stoke-on-Trent Council received £31,663,500 for the period 2022 to 2025 and the West Midlands Combined Authority, which covers Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, received £87,857,760 for the same period.

The funding follows the first £130 million BSIP+ and BSIP investments for the West Midlands for 2022 through to early 2025, taking the total amount of Government support to help improve bus services in the region to £140.6 million over three years.

From introducing new services, or enhancing existing ones in the weekends or evenings, to making tickets cheaper through reduced fares for elderly or young people, local authorities can use the new BSIP+ allocations in several ways to improve bus services for all residents in the West Midlands.

Local authorities can also use the investment to protect bus services with low passenger numbers, so that residents in the West Midlands who rely on them for essential services can continue to access their local bus.

Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “Buses are the most popular form of public transport, and so many residents in the West Midlands rely on their local service to get to work, attend medical appointments, and see loved ones.

“We are delivering for local communities across six local authorities by providing a further £10.5 million to improve and protect essential local services, as we continue to boost transport connections in the West Midlands to help grow the economy.”

The new BSIP+ funding for the West Midlands is part of a wider £160 million investment to improve bus services across England from 2022 through to 2025.

It comes on top of a further £140 million announced in May from the extension of the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), taking the total to continue supporting and protecting bus services across England to £300 million into 2025.

The Government has also invested £200 million to extend the bus fare cap, with single bus tickets capped at £2 outside London until the end of October and then at £2.50 until November 30, 2024.

Silviya Barrett, from the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “We’re pleased the £2 bus fare cap we campaigned for has been a success, reducing fares and boosting passenger numbers.

“The additional funds for local authorities announced today are also welcome and we hope that this is just the start of ongoing investment in bus networks across the country.”

These initiatives take total Government support to protect and improve bus services while keeping fares low in England to £3.5 billion since 2020.

Janette Bell, managing director of First Bus, said: “We welcome the certainty provided by today’s confirmation of the next tranche of local authority funding allocations.

“We look forward to working together with our local authority partners to deliver the best services possible for our customers.

"At First Bus we are driven by a passion to get more people using the bus and we welcome any funding that makes taking the bus an easier travel choice.”