Rural bus provision in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough must improve, say campaigners
Plans to extend the single bus fare cap beyond March have been tabled
More has to be done to improve buses in rural areas across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, a bus campaign group has warned.
The county's Combined Authority (CPCA) wants to fund an extension to the single bus fare cap using £10 million of bus service improvement plan (BSIP) funding in its budget plans for this year.
This includes £3.4m revenue and £6.6m capital funding, allowing it to invest in services without placing an additional fiscal burden on residents.
If the plans are passed at a CPCA Board meeting next week, the BSIP funding would extend the bus fare cap to £2 until June, before rising to £2.50 between July and December.
Plans 'not enough on their own'
"It can bring stability and can bring confidence, but it's not enough on its own," Richard Wood, secretary of the Cambridge Area Bus Users group, said.
"It's hard to run public transport effectively and to make it affordable is good because young people need access to high quality employment."
The CPCA Board will also be asked to approve a 2% increase in the Transport Levy for 2025, totalling £14 million, with a £3.7 million contribution from Peterborough City Council.
However, Mr Wood said provision for people living in rural areas that rely on public transport needs to improve.
"In rural areas, in some cases it's hard even to travel to work," he said.
"There are some villages that only have a shoppers' bus once a week and that needs to be changed but it can't be done all at once.
"Our roads are not capable of taking many more cars, so public transport has to be the way forward and anything that will help people to see that as the best option has to be good."
'Great value for money'
The budget plans come after it was announced the East of England will receive £81 million from £1bn the Government has set aside to support buses and keeping bus fares low.
Out of that £81m, the CPCA is due to receive £10,588,136.
Other CPCA budget plans include freezing the mayoral precept at its current level of £3 a month for an average Band D property.
Among the mayoral budget plans are proposals to freeze the mayoral precept at its current level of £3 a month for an average Band D property, despite the previous prospect of a 4.99 per cent rise.
Dr Nik Johnson, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said the mayoral precept would raise around £11.2m in 2025/26.
Speaking about the CPCA's spending plans, Mr Johnson described them as "great value for money".
Mr Johnson is also expected to make a decision on bus franchising - which allows the CPCA to control how bus services are run in the county - next week following a public consultation.