COUNTY bus services could soon be running smoother than ever as funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) will see the county council have millions to spend on improvements.
The funding package of roughly £9.4 million for Worcestershire County Council was announced by the government alongside roughly £1 billion in investments for bus service improvements across the UK.
A total of £712 million will be shared across local authorities, with a further £243 million for bus operators.
Following the announcement, West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin, has urged that the county council to use some of the funding to improve services between Worcester and Malvern.
Dame Harriett has also campaigned for the return of the X43 service, to the west of Malvern, which was withdrawn during the pandemic as well as more investment for services across her rural constituency.
Dame Harriett said: “I’ve been campaigning for several years to get improvements to the service between Worcester and Malvern and the last Government pledged £209 million to deliver major local transport improvements.
“Constituents regularly share their concerns with me about the lack of decent bus services.
“I have been trying to get a meeting with the county council to understand how the team plans to spend this extra money and I’ll be hoping for some positive news soon.”
The MP says she has also lobbied for later evening buses along the 44 route and better coverage at weekends.
In response to the news, the county council’s transport chief has welcomed the DfT funding and marked bus improvements in Worcestershire as a ‘continued priority’.
Councillor Marc Bayliss, cabinet member with responsibility for highways and transport, said: The funding announced is very much welcome for Worcestershire.
“It will mean we are able to invest properly in our bus improvement plan.
“This plan includes wide range of improvements from working with local operators to improve journey times, frequency and reliability to improving infrastructure such as bus shelters and bus stops.”
Planned improvements also include further expansion of the Worcestershire on Demand service to supplement travel in other areas, beyond Malvern and North East Worcestershire – where it already operates.
Coun Bayliss added: “This will ensure that we not only focus on better urban routes with operators, we can also focus on making bus travel a good and viable option for people in our more rural areas.”
