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Council to review bus services

All council and Government supported bus services will be reviewed by the county council this Autumn, before a three-year plan to support services is drawn up.

The Bus Service Network Review will help Nottinghamshire County Council to further understand the issues facing bus services.

The review comes at a time where post pandemic bus recovery has slowed and service providers are facing challenges in recruiting and retaining drivers, as well as dealing with rising costs.

The three-year plan that will follow the review will also look at how services might be supported going forwards using the £3.9million of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding which the County Council has bid for from central government.

Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “We are committed to doing all we can to support local bus services to ensure their sustainability for those who rely on them across Nottinghamshire.

“Despite the very recent announcement of additional Government support, some services remain vulnerable to significant change due to challenges being faced by transport operators nationally.

“We currently spend £4.1million per year supporting around 80 services across Nottinghamshire which is one of the highest levels of local authority support in the Midlands.

“We recently successfully tendered for a replacement for the 141-bus service, and this is a great example of how we will continue to work with local operators to understand challenges and ensure that bus services remain there for the people who use them.

“By carrying out this review we hope to increase our understanding of the challenges being faced by bus operators both locally and nationally to identify emerging priorities.

“We are in discussions with bus operators and other local authorities to develop plans to support the recovery of the bus sector.”