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Councillors back a £1.7 million plan to restore and improve 30 bus routes and services across Westmorland and Furness.

The ambitious spending plan, approved at Cabinet yesterday, will see communities benefiting from significant improvements to bus services across the area, thanks to the Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus (BSIP)+ funding awarded to the Westmorland and Furness Council by the Department for Transport to boost routes.

Amongst the 30 services that are approved to receive funding, the X6 from Kendal to Barrow is proposed to increase from an hourly service to half hourly and a much-requested improved service for Greystoke near Penrith.

The services, which are subject to confirmation after going out to tender to find an operator, include:

Furness Locality

1 Biggar Bank to Hawcoat; improve frequency of Sunday service
2 Town Hall to West Shore; improve frequency of evening and Sunday service
3 Newbarns to Ormsgill; improve frequency of Sunday service
4 Holbeck to Hindpool; improve frequency of daytime, evening and Sunday service
6 Barrow to Windermere; Maintain extra peak service and improve daytime frequency
X6 Barrow to Kendal; improve Monday to Saturday frequency and add peak service towards Barrow
1-6 Barrow Shipyard Extension; explore the extension of routes within Barrow from the Town Hall to BAE Systems (Barrow Island) to align with shift change times at start and end of working day.

South Lakeland Locality

11 Ulverston to Barrow via Coast Road; improve service through increased frequency
40 Kendal Town; maintain Sunday service
106 Kendal to Penrith via Shap; improve service through increased times and days, and possible extension to Settle-Carlisle line at Langwathby
505 Coniston to Ambleside; improve peak service
516 Dungeon Ghyll to Ambleside; improve times of service to offer early access to the area for walkers and reduce car parking pressure
508 Windermere to Penrith; improve frequency in Summer, including at peak times for workers
532 Cartmel to Grange; maintain more frequent service and potentially increase to five days per week
552 Arnside to Kendal; improve service through links to other bus services and possible extension into Lancashire
555 Keswick to Kendal; improve evening service
564 Sedbergh to Kendal; improve service in conjunction with Western Dales Volunteer/Community bus service
597 Windermere Town Service; provide service on an extra day
X12 Ulverston to Coniston; improve the service by adding more journeys.

Eden Locality

104 Penrith to Carlisle; maintain improved Monday Saturday frequency and improve Sunday frequency
105 Greystoke to Penrith; offer new daily service and a possible extension to Settle-Carlisle line at Langwathby
561 Appleby to Kendal; re-introduce Wednesday service
563 Penrith to Kirkby Stephen; improve frequency with possible extension to Kirkby Stephen railway station
646 Penrith Town Service; build on the current peak service by introducing off peak times to support school commute
680 Nenthead to Carlisle; maintain improved service and explore option to add additional day starting at Garigill
U1 Ullswater Service; support the expansion of the local Sustainable and Integrated Transport for Ulswater (SITU) funded service
X4/5 Keswick to Penrith; maintain improved Monday to Saturday frequency and evening service, and improve Sunday frequency in Winter
517 Little Langdale Shuttle; explore a service for weekends in Summer (July to August) and a service Monday to Friday in the Summer school holidays
888 Alston to Penrith; explore a twice daily service, Monday to Friday.

The views of nearly 2,000 residents and workers who took part in a public consultation helped to shape plans to ensure the chosen routes will be well-used and become self-sustainable for operators to continue delivering the services when the funding ends.

Respondents strongly supported the proposals put forward by the Council for improvements on the X6, 106 and 6 service. There was also support for improved daytime services for shopping, family and social reasons which will be supported by the routes included in the plan.

Feedback was carefully considered, and routes were identified based on their value for money, to ensure the Council has the best opportunity to secure an operator, and their sustainability going forward, by either becoming commercially viable or requiring a reduced level of subsidy. There was also consideration of whether requested routes had been tried before and found to be unsustainable.

Councillor Neil Hughes, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environmental Services, said: “This is a significant day for bus transport in Westmorland and Furness, with Councillors backing the plan to invest £1.7 million in restoring and improving 30 bus services for our communities.

“This sends a strong message that we believe public transport is essential and we recognise the importance of subsidising routes to get buses back on the roads and connect our residents and visitors to more towns, rail links, education, employment, services and attractions.

“The views of nearly 2,000 people are at the heart of the plan. We have listened to you through our recent consultation, and we are improving the frequency of key routes and increasing the number of days they are serviced to overcome the challenges you face with the bus network in its current form.

“It’s important to understand the Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding from the Department for Transport is a one off pot we have been granted to support services for 12 months only. It is therefore absolutely vital that, when these routes launch, our residents and visitors choose bus as their preferred mode of transport to make these services sustainable for operators to continue running in the future.

“We will now start work to secure operators to deliver these services later this year, and we will together identify services that are both deliverable and viable.”

Communities are already benefitting from new council-funded bus services which launched earlier this year. Eleven routes received a £591,015 boost from BSIP+ funding and a Supported Bus Services Grant.

The funded services are in operation across areas including Alston, Arnside, Cartmel, Kendal, Penrith and Windermere. Hospitality and tourism businesses are also supported by the enhanced number 6 service between Barrow and Windermere and the X4/5 that runs between Keswick and Penrith. The routes were designed together with Cumbria Tourism to help staff get to and from work in hotels, restaurants and tourism businesses in some of the most popular parts of the Lake District.

To find out about the bus services that are currently in operation across Westmorland and Furness visit westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk.

Prior to February this year services in the area only operated on a commercial basis where all costs were covered by fares collected (including rebate from Council for acceptance of English National Concessionary Travel Passes). This meant apart from where limited funding from the Community was available, the level of service was limited outside areas of high population, on links between them, and in tourist areas. This funding will give the opportunity to restore some of the missing links, and make more attractive and strengthen existing services.