Hampshire plan to double bus journeys with £52.1m investment

More than £50m in government funding has been earmarked to help improve bus services and infrastructure across the county as part of Hampshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which aims to double bus journeys by 2035.

The funding, split across a four-year period, includes £27.2m in capital funding and £24.9m in revenue funding from the Department of Transport.

Planned improvements cover bus stop upgrades, enhanced stations and interchanges, real-time information displays and bus priority schemes to speed up journeys.

Other elements include zero-emission bus depot charging, community-led transport grants, fare initiatives, driver training support for community transport, and funding for rural bus shelters through town and parish councils.

Cllr Lulu Bowerman, the council’s cabinet member for highways and passenger transport, said: "These initiatives are already delivering real improvements to our bus network by making services faster, more frequent and more reliable so that more people choose to travel by bus, more often.

"In considering these proposals, my focus will be to ensure that better bus provision doesn’t just make journeys easier; but that it supports our local economy, improves access to jobs and essential services, helps reduce congestion, improves air quality, and gives more people the freedom to live independently."

The proposals are set to be reviewed by the council’s universal services select committee before being considered on decision day by the executive lead member for universal services and the executive member for highways and passenger transport on Monday, March 2.