Over £36 million announced by government to deliver better busses across West Yorkshire

Anna Dixon MP for Shipley constituency, has today backed the Labour Government’s transformative plans to deliver better buses across West Yorkshire by providing over £36 million in funding to the county’s Combined Authority.

The investment has been designated to enhance popular routes, protect rural services in places like Wilsden and Denholme, and increase bus use across West Yorkshire and the Bradford district.

The funding will help prevent service reductions on at-risk routes and improve punctuality, ending the current postcode lottery of unreliable services.

Totalling £955 million across England, the funding represents a record level of recent investment in bus improvements for most areas. It also supports once-in-a-generation reform to deliver London-style bus services to every corner of the country.

Under the Conservatives, bus services in England’s regions outside London collapsed. Thousands of bus services were cut, and since 2010, buses have driven almost 300 million fewer miles per year. Across the West Yorkshire region alone, bus miles declined by 26.99%.

As part of this investment, the way funding is allocated has been reformed. The reforms will allocate funding based on need and end the Conservative’s wasteful system of competitive bidding for funding, which wastes resources and delays decisions.

This funding announcement comes alongside the Government’s plans to deliver the most significant overhaul to the country’s bus services in a generation and call time on four decades of failed deregulation.

The Labour Government is expanding the power to regain control of local bus services in every community. It is speeding up the process of delivering public control of buses by removing barriers to bus franchising and public ownership.

Anna Dixon MP for Shipley, said: “Buses are the lifeblood of our communities, and after 14 years of Conservative government, they have been left broken.

“I am delighted that the Transport Secretary has confirmed over £36 million of new bus funding across our region.

“I know from email correspondence and conversations on the doorstep that the people of Shipley constituency are tired of unreliable, infrequent bus services holding them back from opportunities after a decade of neglect of our local bus services.

“This new Government has a plan to deliver better buses across the country, and this funding boost is another crucial stop on that journey.”