North East bus plan pledges cheaper fairs and better services

Transport bosses say the proposals would bring "significant" improvements to the North East's bus services

An £800m plan to upgrade bus services in the North East has been unveiled.

The proposals promise cheaper fares, more regular services, environmentally-friendly fleets and tickets allowing passengers seamless travel across bus, Metro, rail, and ferry routes.

They are set to be approved by the North East Joint Transport Committee (NEJTC) on Tuesday and would then be submitted to the government.

Chairman Martin Gannon said "bold and positive" steps were needed.

The Bus Service Improvement Plan is the latest step towards a new "enhanced partnership" between councils and bus operators - a formal agreement demanded by the government in order to give the North East access to a £3bn fund for bus services.

The proposals include:

• A single ticket capped at between £4 and £6.80 allowing daily unlimited travel across all bus, Metro and ferry services in Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland, plus rail services between Sunderland, Newcastle, the Metrocentre and Blaydon

• Cheaper tickets for under-19s, with a £1.20 fare for single tickets and a £2.50 region-wide cap

• Upgraded stations and shelters, with more real-time service updates and improved CCTV and lighting

• More early morning, evening and overnight services, and improved access to the most rural areas of County Durham and Northumberland

• New bus stations in Durham, Alnwick and Bishop Auckland as well as an additional Newcastle city centre bus station

The plans would also see buses given priority on the busiest routes in and out of city centres and to five new "major" out-of-town park-and-ride sites, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Gannon, who is also the leader of Gateshead Council, said: "If we do not take bold and positive action, our bus network will start to fade away rapidly."

He admitted the upgrades came with a "big price tag" but added government funding would enable the region's councils to take "bold policy decisions to make bus use an easy and natural choice", with bus operators willing to "make commercial compromises on a scale that we have never seen before".

Martijn Gilbert, chairman of NEbus, the local operator's association, said the scheme "sets out the key ingredients for revolutionising the region's bus network".

The bid would include £124m to support existing services amid financial shortfalls caused by Covid-19, with bosses saying they hope the "significant upgrades" would see passenger numbers return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023 and then grow by 10% each year after.