THE collapse of Bournemouth’s Yellow Bus group in the summer came as ‘no surprise’ – according to BCP transport portfolio holder, Cllr Mike Greene.

He says it was no coincidence that More Bus just happened to have 15 ‘spare’ double deckers waiting to be used and council officers were also quick to take action – resulting in just a day’s loss of services.

Cllr Greene says that the council’s team had spent some time preparing contingency plans for a collapse of bus services when Bournemouth Transport Ltd announced it was going into administration on July 29.

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The portfolio holder says the successful take over of most of the routes by More Bus, and a smaller number of routes by Eastleigh-based Xelabus, who are now also running school buses in the area, should make no difference to future bus services.

Bournemouth Echo: Yellow Buses and Yellow Coaches have gained some new routes and there are changes to some of the others

Cllr Greene says although the final details of the £8.9million Government grant to the council to improve bus services has still not been ‘signed off’ he expects no major changes to the plans and is expecting confirmation within a few days.

The plans include more bus lanes for key routes, new bus shelters, a ‘live’ information system and an app’ which has not only the bus times but also shares information about trains and Beryl bikes and e-scooters. Single-ticketing is also being worked on.

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Cllr Greene said that although he has yet to see the financial details for the council of the Government’s pledge to cap winter bus fares at £2, it was a move he welcomed.

Bournemouth Echo:

He told a BCP place and overview scrutiny committee that the incentive might be what is needed to encourage more people to use the buses, which have still not returned to the passenger numbers seen before the Covid outbreak.

He described the planned investment in bus services as “a major plank’ in the drive to tackle what he says is ever worsening traffic congestion in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.

Cllr Greene said the only question left to be resolved would be who would operate three council-subsided routes, numbers 18, 33 and 36, which are now run by Xela, but which will have to be re-tendered in February next year.

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He said more than half of the £8.9m Government grant is expected to be used to create new bus lanes and extra shelters for the area, together with an information system at most bus stops. Around £2million will be earmarked to increase the frequency of buses on some routes.

Cllr Vikki Slade has asked for a look at bus fare zoning, as part of future changes, which she says is unfair to residents in the Merley and Broadstone areas, forcing them to often pay more for their journeys than others within the BCP boundaries because they fall into the zone 2 charging area.

She said for someone travelling into Poole from Bearwood it meant a £6 fare which she described as “unreasonable.”

Cllr Andy Hadley said he hoped any future changes would also involve introducing lower emission, Euro 6, buses onto the local network and to also give consideration to better phasing of pedestrian lights at some junctions.