AFFORDABLE buses will serve more parts of Somerset more often if a bid for central government funding proves successful.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has asked local authorities across the UK to come up with plans for improved bus services as part of the government’s ‘bus back better’ initiative.

Somerset County Council is bidding for  £163M to implement its own plan, with its bus service improvements plan (BSIP) being submitted to the government in October 2021.

The council has now published details of the “enhanced partnership” it will form with commercial and voluntary operators to improve services and cut emissions.

Just over 44 per cent of Somerset’s carbon dioxide emissions came from transport in 2019, compared to the UK average of 27 per cent.

This has been blamed in part on Somerset’s rural nature (the county has one of the lowest population densities in England), which makes alternatives to cars – such as buses, cycling and trains – less viable options for both commuting and leisure trips.

Bus passenger levels are currently at around 80 per cent of their pre-pandemic level, and are expected to reach 90 per cent by April 2022.

However, bus passenger numbers have declined by 40 per cent since 2012, with only one per cent of commuter journeys in Somerset being made by bus and the county having the fourth lowest bus use per population in England.

Other obstacles dissuading people from using buses include:

  • Relatively low car parking charges
  • Bus fares being too complex
  • A lack of decent connections between buses and rail services
  • Bus fares are too high for job-seekers, young people or those in low-paid work
  • Bus services don’t serve newer housing developments

To combat these issues, the council has identified a number of concrete improvements it intends to make to Somerset’s existing bus network.

The list – published before a meeting of the council’s policies and place scrutiny committee in Taunton on Tuesday (February 1) – includes:

  • Electrifying the Taunton park and ride to reduce emissions
  • More frequent services across the day, including a minimum hourly core network by 2023 with guaranteed services from 7am to 7pm  and a “last bus time” on key, strategic routes
  • Improvements to the M5 corridor to reflect the housing growth and employment opportunities in Bridgwater, Taunton and Wellington
  • Extension of services into rural areas, including more demand-responsive transport (DRT) in the evenings and at weekends
  • Lower-priced, easy-to-understand tickets, which can be used on services run by multiple different operators – along with contactless payment and “flat fare town zones” in Bridgwater, Taunton and Yeovil
  • Improvements to existing bus stations in Bridgwater, Wells and Yeovil, and work with partners to create a new facility in Taunton
  • Tighter planning regulations to ensure buses can serve new residential developments, with financial contributions being secured from house-builders

The plan will officially come into effect on April 1, 2022 and will run for ten years, with the improvements gradually being phased in up to March 31, 2032.

A mid-term review will be carried out in by 2027 to assess how well the different parts of the plan are working.