City MP Stephen Morgan has thanked local people who backed his campaign for better buses following a £5 million funding injection to transform services in Portsmouth.
Mr Morgan launched a campaign earlier this year to deliver better buses in Portsmouth – and has thanked residents who signed the petition backing his campaign.
The city MP said the fresh funding (£4.8 million) would help protect routes and ensure more reliable services across the city.
Totalling £955 million across England, the funding represents a record level of recent investment for bus improvements for the majority of areas, alongside once-in-a-generation reform to deliver London-style bus services to every corner of the country.
The investment has been designated to enhance popular routes and increase bus use for shopping, socialising and commuting.
It will help prevent service reductions on at-risk routes and improve punctuality, to bring an end to the current postcode lottery of unreliable services.
Under the Conservatives, bus services in England’s regions outside London collapsed, with thousands of bus services cut, and almost 300 million fewer miles driven by buses per year, since 2010.
Across Portsmouth alone, bus miles declined by 11% between 2010 and 2023.
As part of this investment, the way funding is allocated has been reformed. The reforms will allocate funding based on need and will 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 biggest 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 take back control of local bus services to every community, and is speeding up the process of delivering public control of buses by removing barriers to bus franchising and public ownership. The funding announcement is the latest stop on the Government’s journey to better buses, with a new Buses Bill to be introduced to Parliament in the coming months.
Commenting on the announcement, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“I am delighted that the Transport Secretary has confirmed nearly £5 million of new bus funding across for Portsmouth.
“I want to thank all Portsmouth people who signed the petition backing my campaign to deliver better buses.
“People across our city 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.”
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said:
“Buses are the lifeblood of communities, but the system is broken. Too often, passengers are left waiting hours for buses that don’t turn up – and some have been cut off altogether.
“That’s why we’re reforming funding to deliver better buses across the country and end the postcode lottery of bus services. And it’s why we’re providing over £1bn of funding to keep fares down, protect local routes and deliver more reliable services.
“This is part of our wider plan to put passengers first and give every community the power to take back control of their bus services through franchising or public ownership.
“By delivering better buses, we’ll ensure people have proper access to jobs and opportunities – powering economic growth in every corner of the country.”
