Hopes for better bus service on peninsula dashed as Tory government throws out Suffolk funding bid
By Derek Davis
5th Apr 2022 | Local News
Any hopes of an improved bus service the Felixstowe peninsula nd to improve the resort's tourism offer have been dashed.
Suffolk's bid for more than £77million to upgrade bus services across the county has been rejected by the Government in its £7billion package of transport upgrades.
Suffolk's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) bid lodged at the end of last year as part of the Government's Bus Back Better scheme requested £77m over three years and £107m over five years for a series of upgrades.
They included daily fare caps on routes, a pocket Park and Ride service in Ipswich, merging Ipswich's two main bus stations and a contactless or Oyster card style ticketing system.
But Suffolk failed to secure a single penny in the Department for Transport's announcement on Monday morning.
Neighbours Norfolk will get £49.6m.
The DfT said: "The successful areas have been chosen because of their ambition to repeat the success achieved in London – which drove up bus usage and made the bus a natural choice for everyone, not just those without cars.
"As the Government stated in last year's national bus strategy,Bus Back Better, areas not showing sufficient ambition, including for improvements to bus priority, would not be funded."
A spokesman added that unsuccessful bids "did not fully meet the criteria set out by the Government".
Opposition councillors said the Conservative administration at Suffolk County Council had been "asleep at the wheel" for its bid.
Councillor Richard Smith, Suffolk County Council's Conservative cabinet member for economic development, transport and waste, said: "We submitted an ambitious bid for up to £107m over five years.
"The funding we bid for would have given us a real opportunity to transform bus services in Suffolk.
"It is disappointing but it should be remembered that this funding would have been over and above our existing budget of £1.58m."
Other ambitions in Suffolk's bid included:
Simplified services and multi-operator ticketing
Expansion to other areas for the experimental Katch electric bus service piloted between Framlingham and Wickham MarketLower fares for those aged below 25
Improved routes to and from tourism hotspotsNew bus corridors through Ipswich and automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) enforcement of bus lanes
Integrating school bus services with regular public network routes More to follow.
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