Great news that the Minister for Roads & Local Transport Richard Holden MP has allocated an extra £768,780 to Medway Council from the Bus Services Improvement plan fund, meaning that Medway Council since last year will have received over £1.5m extra for bus services improvement across the Medway Towns. Really pleased that the Minister, after his visit earlier in the year to the constituency, agreed with our calls for more funding for bus services. It is important that Medway Council utilises this extra funding to improve the reliability of existing services, but also look at how they can increase service in those parts of our constituency which need more services. This is great news for the towns and for bus users.
It comes on top of a further £140 million announced in May from the extension of the Bus Service Operators Grant. Also, to help people with everyday travel costs, the Government have invested £200 million to extend the bus fare cap, with single bus tickets capped at £2 on certain routes until the end of month and then at £2.50 until November next year.
I know many residents are concerned with the reliability of bus services locally so I will be monitoring how this extra funding is used.
