This week, it’s back to one of my key election pledges: improving bus services in Eddisbury.

I am incredibly pleased to be able to welcome £2,478,667 of investment from the Government in Cheshire’s local bus services.

This will help support residents in their everyday lives - getting about in our predominantly rural area - and improve access to our local businesses, too, at a time when we need our local economy to stay strong.

The new funding means people across the Cheshire East and West boroughs have benefitted from a total of £4,957,334 from the Government in support of bus services since 2022.

This cash comes from the £80 million Bus Services Improvement Plan, on top of the further £140 million announced in May from the extension of the Bus Service Operators Grant, taking the total to close to £300 million into 2025.

To help people with the cost of living and save on their travel costs, the Government has also invested £200 million in extending the bus fare cap.

Single bus tickets will be capped for Cheshire passengers at £2 until October 2023, and then at £2.50 until November 2024.

The £2 fare cap has cut travel costs, particularly in rural areas like Eddisbury, where buses are crucial for so many people to get around, with the average fare dropping by 10.8 per cent in rural parts of England.

In addition, in the south east of our constituency, Go-Too Buses now provides on-demand, flexible minibus services to ensure even those in our most rural areas remain connected.

Cheshire East Council has been operating the Go-Too service, backed by £1.25 million from the Department for Transport’s Rural Mobility Fund, enabling inter-village connectivity to improve further. 

The measures take total Government support to £3.5 billion since 2020: both to protect and improve bus services, and keep fares low.

This funding will protect essential services and enhance transport connections, supporting people across our county to get where they need to go, with public transport they can rely on.