THE next phase of investment to help drive up the quality of bus services in Warrington has been set out by the borough council.
An updated Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) has been submitted to the government, highlighting the successes since the BSIP funding was awarded, and looking to the months and years ahead.
Warrington has received just over £17m in BSIP funding from the government since 2022, as part of national plans to reduce bus fares, increase passenger numbers and improve service quality.
A requirement of the funding is the production of an updated BSIP to be submitted to government, to review progress against existing targets and to set out the next phase of improvement plans.
In its latest report, the council has highlighted a number of key achievements made since the first BSIP was produced in 2021. This includes the setting up of an Enhanced Partnership with all local bus operators, working together on cheaper fares, increased punctuality, frequency and reliability and high quality, accessible vehicles.
The partnership has helped drive forward a range of improvements, under the banner of ‘Better by Bus’, including:
• £1 capped fares for everyone aged under 22 and £2 adult capped fares
• free concessionary pass travel at any time of the day
• enhanced timetables and new routes across the network
The report highlights how these improvements are helping accelerate the recovery of bus travel in Warrington, with figures released by Warrington’s Own Buses showing a passenger increase, during 2023, of more than 10 per cent.
In the report, Warrington also sets out its ambitions to build on this success, utilising the BSIP funding to deliver a number of further improvements through to 2025 and beyond, including:
• the delivery of new bus priority measures, including a major scheme on the A49 Winwick Road corridor.
• continued low fares
• multi-operator ticketing
• real time passenger information at stops and on devices
Council leader and cabinet member for transport, Cllr Hans Mundry, said: “It’s an exciting time for bus services in Warrington. We are making fantastic progress with our BSIP programme which, by 2025, will have seen us investing more than £70m in improving all aspects of our bus services with a new all electric bus depot and fleet for Warrington’s Own Buses.
“We are fully committed to driving up the number of people who choose the bus for their journeys, by creating a more reliable, sustainable and attractive bus service for Warrington. This, combined with the arrival of our all-electric fleet in the coming months, will enable us to deliver a bus service fit for the future.
“Our new BSIP report sets out our next stage of improvement plans and what we want to achieve. I’m looking forward to us continuing to work closely with our operators to make Warrington’s bus network the best it can possibly be.”
To view the BSIP report in full and to learn more about the plans to deliver a better bus service in Warrington, visit warrington.gov.uk/bus-service-improvement-plan-bsip
