Bus services
Most buses are operated commercially by companies such as Trent Barton, Stagecoach and Arriva. Many others are run under contract to us.
We support the use of buses and trains in a variety of ways:
- providing socially-necessary local bus services
- providing home-to-school transport
- part-funding the 'Traveline' telephone enquiry service
- publishing comprehensive bus timetables and route maps online
- maintaining the online journey planner and timetable finder database
- funding and administering concessionary fares for disabled and elderly people, children and students
- supporting community transport
- supporting the development of train services
- promoting the Derbyshire Wayfarer rover tickets
- developing local transport plans and policies
Bus service improvement plan
As part of the National Bus Strategy, Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) were required to publish a bus service improvement plan (BSIP). A BSIP sets out a high level vision for bus services in an area such as Derbyshire, the important actions needed to provide it, and how these will achieve the goal of increasing bus use.
We have been working with a variety of stakeholders to develop our BSIP including:
- bus companies who provide services in Derbyshire
- community transport operators
- bus passenger user groups
- borough and district councils across Derbyshire and the Peak District National Park Authority
- special interest groups including the local access forum
We also undertook a survey asking members of the public and other stakeholders what improvements they would like to see to bus services in Derbyshire which attracted over 2,000 responses.
We have now published our BSIP which sets out our ambitious proposals for improving bus services in Derbyshire including:
- measures to improve bus service reliability and journey times
- improvements to bus service information including an increase in the number of roadside electronic Real Time Information signs at bus stops
- measures to improve integration between different bus services and between bus and rail including the development of transport hubs at important locations to help bring services together
- the introduction of new ticketing arrangements to make bus travel more affordable
- better roadside shelters and stops
- improvements in the frequency and hours of operation of important bus services
- an expansion in the number of areas where Demand Responsive Transport services are available
- the introduction of more environmentally friendly buses
Our BSIP is available to read.
For further information, please email: public.transport@derbyshire.gov.uk or write to:
Public Transport Unit
Derbyshire County Council
County Hall
Matlock
Derbyshire
DE4 3AG
The National Bus Strategy document is also available.
Enhanced partnership plan and scheme
Following the successful submission of the bus service improvement plan (BSIP) to the Department for Transport, we've created an enhanced partnership. This means we will work more closely with local bus operators to improve services.
There are 2 elements of the enhanced partnership which must now be agreed and consulted upon:
- the enhanced partnership plan - sets out a summarised version of the BSIP, providing the context for the proposed local bus service improvements
- the enhanced partnership scheme - sets out in more detail how the plan objectives will be achieved through an agreed set of actions
Read the full draft of the enhanced partnership plan.
Together the plan and scheme will form the legally binding agreement between ourselves and local bus operators. The provision of our BSIP proposals are subject to the required funding being made available by the Department for Transport.
Government funding for supported bus services in 2020 to 2021
In early 2020-21 we were awarded funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) the sum of £838,005. This funding was to provide additional bus services in the Derbyshire area.
Initially we stipulated how we intended to spend the funding, which included improvements and timetable enhancements to 11 local bus services. However, due to the subsequent onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and extremely low bus usage at that time due to the government messaging to "avoid public transport", Derbyshire's local bus network changed significantly and some of these 11 bus services are now no longer in operation.
Under the terms and conditions of the funding award in 2020 to 2021, we now intend to utilise the funding in 2022 to 2023 to subsidise inflationary costs on our contracted bus services, and to prevent any service reductions. By supporting the local bus network, this will encourage and promote bus usage and reduce congestion and car use.
Department for Transport Bus Service Operators Grant 2021 to 2022 - annual report
The Bus Service Operators Grant is a grant paid to operators of eligible bus services and community transport organisations to help them recover some of their fuel costs. The amount each bus operator receives is based on their annual fuel consumption. Bus Service Operators Grant also aims to benefit passengers by:
- helping operators keep fares down
- enabling operators to run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation
Bus Service Operator Grant spend
Maintaining current tendered services: £896,586 (excluding funding by the COVID bus service support grant and any other funding provided through the local authority)
There were no specific requirements on operators as a condition of payment (for example, setting a minimum standard of emissions requirement which needed to be met).
In addition to the Bus Service Operators Grant, we spent other financial resources on supporting bus services. This did not include funding from COVID Bus Service Support Grant.
How money over and above Bus Service Operators Grant and / or COVID Bus Service Support Grant was spent
- maintaining current tendered services: £4,680,125
- investing in alternative services (for example, community transport, taxi buses): £510,789
- bus stops and / or shelters and real time journey information: £458,909.83
- other: £40,000 - Wheels to Work scheme
- total: £6,586,409.83
All of our allocated Bus Service Operators Grant for 2021 to 2022 was spent.