A bus lane running all the way round Coppins Bridge is one of the hopes for a new partnership between the Isle of Wight Council and Southern Vectis.
More bus lanes, reduced journey times and cheaper fares are other ambitions.
‘Bus Back Better’
Trying to bid for a slice of £3 billion of government ‘Bus Back Better’ funding (see News OnTheWight’s previous report), the two bodies have created a ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’ (BSIP) for the Island in a ‘once in a generation opportunity’.
The council agreed to form an enhanced partnership earlier this year and have since had talks with the bus operators and other travel bodies in the wider region to discuss the plans, ultimately drawing up a list of ambitions, commitments and targets.
Southern Vectis created a list of 116 proposed service network improvements which it viewed would help the overall bus service.
Using former railway lines
They included fixing poor quality bus shelters, adding more stops to Newport Bus Station which is currently at capacity and creating physical priority for buses on the Island’s roads, by bus lanes, proposing a ‘Fairlee Bus Transit Route’ using the former railway lines to stop buses getting stuck in traffic on Fairlee Road and one all the way around Coppins Bridge.
Agreeing with the bus operators, who are part of the wider Go South Coast organisation, the council has included some of its points in the BSIP, which sets out the ‘high-level vision’ and key interventions to offer passengers a better service.
36 targets
Altogether there are 36 targets in the BSIP, addressing some of the service’s weaknesses, including:
- Reducing average bus journey times by five to ten per cent by 2025
- Introduce a bus priority scheme around the Island by 2040
- Work on the perceived lack of value for money
- Improving the reliability of services with 90 per cent of buses running on time
- Increase the frequency of buses in rural areas to encourage 25 per cent more bus journeys from rural locations by 2040
- Double the number of tourists travelling on buses, from 11 per cent in 2017 to 20 per cent in 2040.
Decarbonising the fleet
An ambition of the BSIP is to modernise buses, focusing on charging points as WiFi connectivity is proving unreliable due to the network reception in various parts of the Island, and decarbonise the fleet.
The Isle of Wight Council’s cabinet is being asked to approve the BSIP at its meeting next week before it is submitted to government by the end of October.
Following publication of this BBC LDR article, the Isle of Wight council issued the following response. Ed
The Isle of Wight’s proposed Bus Service Improvement Plan is set to be discussed at the Isle of Wight Council cabinet meeting on Thursday 14 October.
As part of the 20-year strategy, plans to improve the bus services across the Island are being considered.
There will be an opportunity to bid for grant funding from the government’s £3bn National Bus Strategy funding pot.
The Isle of Wight Council has commissioned Hampshire County Council to produce a plan to create an Enhanced Bus Partnership, and to draw up a bid for the grant funding.
As part of this initial work, Southern Vectis has provided a list of operational issues that could be addressed through grant funding.
Speaking today to clarify recent questions, Cllr Phil Jordan, cabinet member for transport, commented:
“The aspirational list of improvements suggested by Southern Vectis form part of future discussions as we develop the Enhanced Partnership with them.
“The list of works that are that are part of the cabinet paper are not agreed works, nor are they part of any discussions or details we have had to date.
“It would be wrong to take any item from the list and assume it is going to be delivered or will happen over the next 20 years.
“The list is an operational heads-up of issues raised by the bus provider.
“They will form part of discussions, as we jointly work towards finding the final strategy for the Enhanced Bus Partnership and then on into the future until 2040 as we work to improve public transport for our Island.
“Suggestions of bus lanes being built at Coppin’s Bridge, for example, are simply not being discussed at this time.
“We have much work as we continue too improve our transport services on the Island and we are working hard, and with clear direction, to deliver a sustainable and better service which more people will want to use.
“Talking at this stage about the final detail of how we do that is very premature indeed.
“There is every chance that road infrastructure talks about Coppin’s Bridge will take place long before we start discussions on bus lanes there.”
Article edit
5.20pm 8th October 2021 – Statement from IWC added
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is part of. Read here to find about more about how that scheme works on the Island. Some alterations and additions may have been made by News OnTheWight. Ed
