Rural buses affecting young people's wellbeing

Somerset Council says some young people face three to four hours of bus travel to access education.

Buses in rural areas, towns and city centres are in significant decline, with bus journeys outside London down by nearly 12%, according to a report.

Somerset Council highlighted the challenges faced in rural areas in the report, saying "dispersed settlements, limited population between settlements, and the lack of a robust customer base" made running buses difficult.

The council said some young people faced three to four hours of travel to access education, which affects their overall wellbeing.

"I'm sorry to say, there is greater dissatisfaction with bus services in Somerset than almost anywhere else in the country," said co-chair of Somerset Bus Partnership Peter Travis.

Somerset Bus Partnership provided evidence to the government's transport select committee for its report on how buses connect communities.

It said funding for buses in Somerset needs to be increased by more than £2m just to be brought in line with the rest of the South West.

The report said Somerset Council spent £8.3m on bus services from 2022-23 - the lowest amount per person in the South West. The average spend by other councils in the region was £13.85m.

"We're looking to work with the council to try to improve it and encourage people to use the buses to address the problem," Mr Travis said.

"Two thirds of the councillors when they were elected said they should increase substantially the support for buses, but they just can not afford to do it.

"The council is under a lot of financial pressure - they're in a financial emergency."

The council said providing transport services in rural areas is increasingly difficult

Somerset Council has said providing passenger transport services in rural areas is becoming increasingly difficult.

"While recent funding awards are incredibly welcome, the prevailing conditions are such that the level of intervention needed to make improvements to services so that they attract new users is substantially greater than has been received to date."

The government said it aims to publish a new national policy for to help improve the bus networks across england by February 2027.