North East Lincolnshire gains £4.7m funding for bus service improvements

North East Lincolnshire gains £4.7m funding for bus service improvements

North East Lincolnshire Council has been awarded £4.7m from the Government’s Bus Back Better scheme to deliver the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

North East Lincolnshire Council was the only Local Authority in the Lincolnshire and Humber Region to be awarded this.

Councillor Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for environment and transport at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “I want to say thank you to SYSTRA and Stagecoach for having helped us to develop the Bus Service Improvement Plan. The plan aims to make bus travel a more accessible form of transport in our communities, improve passenger experience and reduce congestion on our streets by encouraging more people to travel by bus.”

Brian Drury, SYSTRA Sector Director, said: “We are delighted to have assisted North East Lincolnshire Council in producing a bold and ambitious Bus Service Improvement Plan that has led to the award of £4.7m. We have worked collaboratively with the council and local bus operator Stagecoach to develop a number of measures and interventions that will make a real step change to bus services in the area, helping make bus services more punctual, reliable and faster delivering higher levels of customer satisfaction and encouraging more people to use the bus.”

Matt Cranwell, managing director at Stagecoach East Midlands, added: “There is a huge opportunity ahead as we emerge from the pandemic for the bus to help deliver economic recovery, level up communities, provide better air quality and health for local people, and transition to a net zero future.

“We were delighted to partner with North East Lincolnshire Council to develop a range of initiatives to deliver better bus services and give greater priority to people making more sustainable transport choices.

“This new investment, along with measures to incentivise and drive less use of cars, is an important part of delivering more reliable bus journeys, better value fares and attracting more customers to the benefits of bus travel.”

Martin Lear, head of highways and transport at EQUANS, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity and we are looking forward to executing this plan as it means we can make bus travelling easier for our passengers. We hope this will encourage people to travel by bus as it is one of the more sustainable ways of travelling.”

The Bus Service Improvement Plan also aims to help deliver the Bus Passenger Charter, which details what passengers can expect using local bus services operating in North East Lincolnshire, as well as detailing which elements of service provision are the responsibility of the council.

A delivery plan will be developed in the coming weeks to identify the projects that will bring about the proposed biggest improvements to local transport.