WARRINGTON residents are overwhelmingly in favour of investment in public transport.
They want buses to go to more places at higher frequencies, they want lower and simpler fares and they want buses to run on time.
These were the findings of a public consultation into the Warrington Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).
Key findings included 24 per cent of users identifying limited frequency of services as a reason for not using buses more.
Half of users thought frequency of services to be poor or very poor.
More than half wanted more services of an evening and at weekends.
The findings are revealed in a report by a senior transport officer at Warrington Borough Council to be considered by the borough council’s Building Stronger Communities Policy Committee on Wednesday.
Car ownership is high in Warrington – 80.7 per cent of households own a car or van compared with the national average of 74.4 per cent.
Similarly, only 19.3 per cent of households do not own a car or van compared with the national average of 25.6 per cent.
But there are wide variations – in five wards more than 30 per cent of households have no car.
This leads to a vicious cycle of transport issues and social exclusion, Mr Wakerley’s report concludes.
The Warrington Local Transport Plan – approved in 2019 – has the following vision statement:
“Warrington will be a thriving, attractive, accessible and well-connected place with popular, high-quality walking, cycling and public transport networks supporting our carbon-neutral future.”
The aims of Warrington’s BSIP include cheaper fares and integrated ticketing, enhanced coverage of bus services, bus priority measures and low emission bus travel.
Warrington has already made a successful bid for funding of £16.2m from the Department for Transport – the ninth highest national award – for capped fares, more services and for bus priority measures.
WOB’s new depot was completed in March and the company has already moved in.
Electric bus chargers will be installed early next year and the delivery of electric buses and their entry into service will take place during the year.
The entire WOB fleet of 105 buses will be replaced with electric vehicles.
This will result in air quality benefits and reduction in pollution and a reduction in bus operating costs.
In addition, a programme of replacing bus shelters across the borough is now nearing completion. There will be 210 new shelters all with seating, lighting and timetable cases. Many will have solar panels and one a wind turbine.
The borough council will receive a significant revenue stream through advertising for the next 15 years.
Councillors will be asked to note the report and consider any further areas of work that may be required.
