RURAL bus services could soon be boosted by £588,000 given out from a government grant, though concerns about a quick turnaround to apply for the money have been raised.

Oxfordshire County Council was offered the £588,403 pot of money from the government’s one-year supported bus services fund in February.

The council’s cabinet member for the environment, Yvonne Constance, signed a letter to the government confirming OCC wanted to use the money to protect bus services in rural areas across Oxfordshire on Thursday.

According to the statement of intent letter sent to the government, the council will spend the money is three separate ways.

• £125,000 will be spent on improving supported bus services, including the 136 between RAF Benson and Wallingford, and new Sunday routes between Banbury and Chipping Norton, Watlington and Oxford, and Woodstock and Witney.
• £253,400 will be spent on restoring lost bus routes between Chipping Norton and Kingham station, Southmoor and Oxford, and Abingdon, Berinsfield and Cowley.
• £210,000 will extend current services including a service between Lambourn and Swindon, an evening service from Oxford to Banbury, and a new Sunday service from Wallingford to Henley.

Bus route closures have left nearly a million Britons at risk of being cut off from basic services, research has found.

A study by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) found that 56 per cent of small towns in the southwest and northeast of England were “transport deserts” or on the verge of becoming one, with residents unable to get around without driving.

Buses are the most popular form of public transport and account for more journeys than all other types combined. However, almost £400 million of local and national government funding has been cut, causing hundreds of services to be reduced in frequency or scrapped, and leading to fare increases of 63 per cent in real terms.

Official government figures reveal more than half of all England’s bus journeys are now made in London. 

Outside the capital, Brighton and Hove had the most journeys per head of population in 2018-19.

The Campaign for Better Transport said the new funding was a “significant step change” and welcome news for communities that had “borne the brunt” of cuts to services and “poor or non-existent local public transport in recent years”.

A 2019 study by the charity found more than 3,000 local bus routes had been lost or reduced over the past decade.

Crispin Truman from countryside charity CPRE said rural communities had been “at the end of the queue” for too long and the funding could be a “lifeline”.

He said: “If properly targeted, this investment could help tackle loneliness and isolation, reduce car dependency and slash our carbon emissions.”

England’s first town to have all-electric buses will be created through a £50m fund, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.

Local authorities can bid for money to help pay for a new fleet of electric buses.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said buses had “a crucial role to play in bringing down emissions”.

Darren Shirley, head of the Campaign for Better Transport, called it a “good start” after years of cuts to services.

The DfT said that the winning town would be used as a model by government as it aims to ensure all buses are fully electric by 2025.

The announcement comes as part of a wider package of measures for buses.

About £70m will go towards high-frequency “Superbus” networks. One is already in place in Cornwall, where a mix of lower fares, more frequent services and lots of bus lanes has proven successful.

To help plug the financial gap, the MPs called on the Government to impose a one-off charge for the bus pass which gives the elderly and disabled free off peak bus travel.

The MPs said that 70 per cent of councils have cut funding for bus services, with rural areas hit worst.

In the most extreme cases, councils have withdrawn all their subsidised bus services often without any consultation. “The evidence we received from bus users around the country demonstrates the anger and concern people feel about the impact of these decisions on their everyday lives.

This seems to me to another case of local government bearing the brunt of the criticism for a decision imposed on them in term of funding cuts by national government. I see it as a rallying call for rural communities to consider more innovative and in many cases non bus solutions to their transport needs. There is significant innovation out there in this regard and we need to consider how best to tap into it.