‘Funds do not match the rhetoric’ on improving county’s bus services
Bus services in West Sussex will be given a multi-million pound boost thanks to a government grant to the county council.
While every penny counts, the money provided to help deliver the county’s Bus Improvement Plan was nowhere near the £138m bid submitted by the council.
A spokesman said: “We have been awarded indicative funding of up to £17.4m from the Department for Transport and we now need to understand how this can best be spent on delivering key elements of the West Sussex Bus Services Improvement Plan.
“Our transport team will continue to work with bus operators to develop the plan, identifying achievable ways to improve local services and encourage more people to use them.”
The improvement plan was submitted to the Department for Transport in October.
It detailed some 85 projects for 2022-2025 and beyond. They included:
• Contributing to a new bus station in Crawley, in partnership with the borough council, Metrobus and the Local Enterprise Partnership
• More and improved information screens in areas such as Chichester, Burgess Hill, Crawley, Worthing and East Grinstead; and
• Advanced signal control systems at 35 junctions that will give buses priority on approach.
Henry Smith, Conservative MP for Crawley, welcomed the funding for West Sussex, describing how for decades ‘too many communities have been let down by poor bus infrastructure’. He added: “This will mean that local passengers will get a better deal, with local transport networks they can truly rely on.”
But the Green Party has reacted with ‘dismay’ at the amount for West Sussex, at £17.4m, compared to £41.4m for East Sussex, £27.9m for Brighton & Hove and £48.3m for Portsmouth.
In a joint statement, county councillor Sarah Sharp and Arun district councillor Isabel Thurston said: “This £17.4m falls woefully short of what is needed and will leave WSCC with tough decisions to make on which improvements it can deliver, all while people are crying out for better transport options. Many of our residents living in rural communities cannot rely on buses to get into nearby towns and villages to do their shopping, to access education or get to work because bus travel remains so expensive and unreliable.
“In Boris Johnson’s own words: ‘As services get slower, they become more expensive to run and less attractive to passengers. It is a classic vicious circle, which we intend to break’. Once again, the funds simply do not match the rhetoric.”