WARRINGTON Borough Council is setting out the latest part of its vision to work in partnership with bus operators to improve bus services across the town.
The council’s Cabinet will be asked at its meeting of Monday 12 June, to consider new plans – as part of Warrington’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) – to make a range of enhancements, including additional services, reduced fares and new bus priority infrastructure.
The work will be underpinned by the Enhanced Partnership set up between the council with all local bus operators, following the award in 2022 of £16m in funding through the government’s National Bus Strategy, to improve all aspects of bus services. This includes just under £10m for bus priority measures and over £6m to fund a local fare cap and introduce additional bus services until March 2025.
Cabinet will be asked to approve plans to drive forward this partnership work, entering into contracts with local bus service operators to put the BSIP funding into use over the next two years. This work will focus on the provision of additional, more frequent, punctual and reliable services, reduced fares and better ticketing, along with higher quality, more accessible vehicles – including 105 new electric buses.
In addition, Cabinet will be asked to approve plans to extend the duration of the maximum £2 single fare cap on all bus journeys. The national scheme, initially launched by the government at the start of the year, is set to run until 31 October 2023, after which the cap will increase to £2.50. If approved by Cabinet, Warrington will use part of its BSIP funding to keep the cap at £2 for adult fares all the way through to March 2025.
Further to this, approval is being sought to introduce a fare cap of £1 per single journey for all child fares. As part of this, it is proposed that this £1 capped fare doesn’t just apply to children aged under 16, but eligibility is extended to all bus passengers aged under 19 years of age and for this also to apply through to March 2025.
Cabinet approval is also being sought to progress the development of a new bus priority scheme on the A49 Winwick Road southbound. This would speed up bus services through measures such as sections of new bus lane (which would be via an additional southbound lane, maintaining the existing two lanes for other traffic to use), bus gates and enhanced traffic signal technology.
This scheme would be funded with the support of just under £9.9m of capital funding awarded to the council by the Department for Transport to progress BSIP infrastructure.
Warrington Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for transport, Cllr Hans Mundry, said: “Warrington is making strong progress in the work to drive up the quality of our bus services. We are moving forward with our ZEBRA project, which will see the introduction of 105 new electric buses in 2024, and we have almost completed our borough-wide bus shelters replacement programme. Meanwhile, our Better By Bus initiative, with cheaper fares and more frequent services in the evening, has helped to grow local passenger numbers.
“However, there’s much more work to do if we are to achieve our ambitions to deliver the highest quality bus services, which will drive an increase in bus usage, achieve a mode shift from the private car, reverse falling bus patronage and increase the share of journeys made by bus.
“These ambitious plans will be the next important step forward for us on this journey. I hope the proposals are approved by Cabinet to enable us to move forward with the next phase of transforming bus travel in Warrington.”
