THE COUNCIL has no certainty over the level of funding it will receive from the government to help fund bus services across Wokingham.
Cllr Paul Fishwick, Executive Member for Active Travel, Transport and Highways, gave the bleak warning while presenting a paper about the Local Bus Services Improvement Plan to the executive meeting held on Thursday, January 26.
The council had not received any funding from the government to help run routes around the borough, despite seeing the second highest passenger growth in England, outside of London, in the 10 years leading up to the pandemic.
Passenger numbers, he said, are currently around 81% of pre-covid levels.
However, it was not all bad news. Neighbouring Reading Borough Council has received government funding, and this will have a halo effect on Wokingham services shared with Reading Buses. A number of routes, including the Oranges, Lions, and Leopards, connect the two boroughs.
Under the plan, there would be improvements on the A4 London Road, to help with the Orange routes to Woodley, while key junctions will benefit from new bus priority lanes to help services heading to Wokingham. There will also be more active enforcement of red routes and box junctions.
Cllr Fishwick said they had received feedback from the Department of Transport over their failed bid, which included looking at ways to strengthen partnership working.
“Local bus services are vital for Wokingham Borough and the wider area. They play an important role for people to access jobs, retail and services, schools’/ further education, business to business connectivity, visiting the hospital/health centres as well as for leisure activities,” he said.
“They are a lifeline for the community and the economy and carry 2.8 million passengers per annum.”
He added that council leader Cllr Clive Jones was a co-signature with him on a letter to the government. In it, they highlighted “the major issue of no clear future of funding support, as the challenge to fund and maintain a financially sustainable network, without central government assistance now rests with the council, local bus operators and our partners.”
This was followed up with a meeting with the Minister for Roads and Local Transport, Richard Holden, where they discussed driver shortages and a lack of future funding.
“We recognise the vital role of local bus services for our residents in offering greener and healthier travel alternatives,” Cllr Fishwick continued. “If we want to continue to have a good bus network, we also need more people to use the buses. I therefore urge residents to take the bus, whenever possible and with the £2 single fare incentive – except football and school allocated buses – now is a great time to start.”
