As the Bus Service Improvement Plans to successfully secure funding are revealed, DAVID JENKINS looks at five of the biggest winners
You would think that the councils and transport authorities that had won indicative funding allocations for their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP) would be shouting it from the rooftops.
But the timing of the Department for Transport's announcement on April 4 has given many a headache, as they were preparing for elections on May 5, meaning that they cannot comment on political matters during that time. It is a period that has become known as 'purdah' in local government circles.
And the fact that nearly everyone who won cash received only a small fraction of what they had bid for means that what is contained in their BSIP is unlikely to be implemented in full. Nevertheless, Buses is taking a look at the winners' plans, and where possible, examining what priorities have since been expressed.
This month we consider the five plans with the largest awards, which cumulatively account for 48% of the total allocation of BSIP funding. They are all (or in part) combined authorities, and thus also eligible for much larger sums of money from the City Region Sustainable Transport…
