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The funding consists of an annual payment of £3m to spend on a package of community focused bus services and promotional fares, helping in part to safeguard necessary services that are essential for the public's access to education, employment, healthcare, and the wider community.
The rest of the funding is a ring-fenced annual allocation of £1.3m for infrastructure related schemes.
Hugh Malyan, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at North Somerset Council, said: “As the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding winds down, the Bus Grant will help us sustain support for bus services across North Somerset.
“I welcome the three-year funding which helps us to plan and spend resources with certainty. We will still face some difficult decisions, however, as costs to provide bus services have risen with some services still needing significant support from the council. This funding broadly matches what we have had before so doesn’t represent any additional spending power.
“We have been able to work closely with operators to improve usage and coverage of the network, recovering 96% of the footfall since Covid, which is a phenomenal feat. There are still communities that need better bus services, and this funding will help us work towards that.”
The grant is in tandem with £43m over three years for the West of England Combined Authority, who we will continue to work closely with to drive improvements to the regions buses as a joint partner. The council will now work through how best to use the funding available in the coming years.
For more updates on the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), please visit Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) | North Somerset Council