New bus lane on part of Winwick Road among council improvement aims

Warrington Borough Council has set out its updated Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which has been submitted to the Government.

The plan highlights the successes since funding for the scheme was awarded, and looks to the months and years ahead.

Warrington has received more than £17million in BSIP funding from the Government since 2022, as part of national plans to reduce bus fares, increase passenger numbers and improve service quality.

A requirement of the funding is the production of an updated plan to be submitted to the Government, to review progress against existing targets and to set out the next phase of improvement plans.

In its latest report, the council has highlighted a number of key achievements made since the first BSIP was produced in 2021.

This includes an enhanced partnership with all bus operators, working together on cheaper fares, increased punctuality, frequency and reliability and high-quality, accessible vehicles.

The partnership has helped drive forward a range of improvements, under the banner of Better by Bus, including £1 capped fares for everyone aged under 22 and £2 adult capped fares.

Other improvements are free concessionary pass travel at any time of the day and enhanced timetables and new routes across the network.

Improvements to bus services in Warrington have been made, the council says

The report highlights how these improvements are helping accelerate the recovery of bus travel in Warrington, with figures released by Warrington’s Own Buses showing a passenger increase during 2023 of more than 10 per cent.

The council has also set out its ambitions in the report to build on this success, utilising BSIP funding to deliver a number of further improvements through to 2025 and beyond.

These include the delivery of new bus priority measures, including a major scheme of another bus lane on a section of the A49 Winwick Road corridor, as well as continued low fares, multi-operator ticketing and real-time passenger information at stops and on devices.

The number of existing lanes for cars would not change, with a new carriageway to be built and existing road space remodelled, meaning that motorists would not lose any lanes of traffic, and car journey times would remain approximately as they are now.

Council leader Cllr Hans Mundry, who is also cabinet member for transport, said: “It is an exciting time for bus services in Warrington.

“We are making fantastic progress with our BSIP, which by 2025 will have seen us investing more than £70million by 2025 in improving all aspects of our bus services, with a new all-electric bus depot and fleet for Warrington’s Own Buses.

“We are fully committed to driving up the number of people who choose the bus for their journeys, by creating a more reliable, sustainable and attractive bus service for Warrington.

“This, combined with the arrival of our all-electric fleet in the coming months, will enable us to deliver a bus service fit for the future.

“Our new BSIP report sets out our next stage of improvement plans and what we want to achieve.

“I am looking forward to us continuing to work closely with our operators to make Warrington’s bus network the best it can possibly be.”