Wiltshire Council awarded nearly £7m to invest in the county's bus services

Wiltshire Council has been awarded nearly £7m from the Department for Transport (DfT) to invest in the county's bus services for 2025 and 2026.

The funding was allocated to the council from DfT as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) to help improve bus services in the county.

This will allow the council to bring forward a number of enhancements detailed in the BSIP, including providing extended hours and increased frequency for some services, upgrading services to better serve key areas such as healthcare or employment sites and improve passenger waiting facilities.

Cllr Tamara Reay, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: We welcome this additional Government funding into Wiltshire's bus services.

With this funding we can now build on the proposals outlined in our Bus Service Improvement Plan to provide more enhanced bus services across the county, as well as other investments to help improve the bus passenger experience.

Most Wiltshire buses are £2 or less for a single journey, and although this will rise to a maximum single fare of £3 in January, it still represents great value to travel to work, to explore our beautiful county, or as an alternative to taking the car.

We are investing significantly in buses across the county and are always looking at innovative ways to deliver the right services that benefit the most people, whether it's our pioneering Wiltshire Connect services in the Pewsey Vale area, or the electric buses in Salisbury, which we're working closely with Salisbury Reds on as part of the Government's ZEBRA programme.

We will continue to work closely with all our partner operators to provide bus services that enable people to travel around and explore our beautiful county.