Councillor calls for more action to improve bus sustainability

A councillor has branded plans to improve public transport as “unambitious”.

Andy Hadley, who represents the ward of Poole Town, said BCP’s ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’ fell short of what was required to promote sustainable public transport.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council unveiled a 102-page ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’ aimed at doubling the number of bus journeys to 45 million a year by 2030. In doing so, the council are hoping to reduce levels of congestion that are estimated to cost the local authority £270 million a year.

Nikki Honer, Head of Communications at Go South Coast, told BUzz News the ‘comprehensive plan’ would see buses put as a priority on the roads and sought to highlight the positive environmental impact the scheme would have.

She said: “We are in a climate disaster. We know we have got to change many of our actions.

“My goal is that by working together with BCP Council we can get people to really start to think differently about local journeys.”

The proposals were questioned this morning as Councillor Hadley called on the three key stakeholders – BCP Council, Yellow Buses and Go South Coast – to work collaboratively in order to deliver on the priorities of the commuter.

“We have a dysfunctional set-up where not only do we have a bad road system but we have bus companies in competition with one another: operating the same routes but running as a separate business. 

I’ve been campaigning for nearly two decades on integrated ticketing: it’s something that would be beneficial to the commuter and make public transport a lot simpler.”

Mr Hadley highlighted that Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is the third most congested conurbation: behind only London and Edinburgh.

Mike Greene, BCP Portfolio holder for Transport and Sustainability, didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

In a previous statement, Mr Greene said: (The) “‘Bus Back Better’ (campaign) sets out an ambitious vision to drastically improve bus services… our aim is to make buses faster, more reliable and more frequent.”