A stronger partnership between the county council and bus companies can lead to improved services for Staffordshire communities, according to a new report.
The authority says it is keen to build an “enhanced” link with operators to support future bids for funding for local routes.
If approved by Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet next month, the existing bus service improvement plan will be fully reviewed and form the basis of the enhanced partnership arrangement, which will then be submitted to government.
County council chiefs say they hope the moves will reverse the decrease in bus travel during the pandemic period – in 2022-23 there were around 8.3million adult journeys, compared to 12.6million in 2019-20.
Cllr Robert Pritchard, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet support member for highways, said
“Improving the county’s bus services wherever possible is important to our communities – enabling people to access the services they need, connecting with friends, family and work and helping to boost the economy.
“While we’re not responsible for bus services, we work closely with companies operating in Staffordshire to support them in shaping the network and can access central government funding as part of this.
“The county council is also committed to working towards a low emission bus network and encouraging more people to use buses to reduce traffic on our roads.”
Cllr Robert Pritchard, Staffordshire County Council
The government has allocated funding to the county council to support improved bus services from July this year to April 2024. Money for the following year will be received when the enhanced partnership has been established.
The Staffordshire Bus Strategy will be discussed by members of the prosperous overview and scrutiny committee on Thursday (6ht July).
