Regional bosses want public transport in the East Midlands to be similar to London.
Leaders were discussing the future of transport in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire at a meeting of the East Midlands Combined Authority’s (EMCCA) Transport and Digital Connectivity Committee on Thursday, September 17.
EMCCA took over responsibility for public transport from Nottingham City, Derby City, Nottinghamshire County and Derbyshire County councils in January this year – and at Thursday’s meeting, presented a 10-year plan for the future of transport in the region.
It sets out how the authority will work with bus operators in each council area to “make buses the first choice for many journeys across our cities, towns and villages.”
It will involve six main priorities – making buses more reliable, making it easier to pay, making stops, vehicles and information more accessible, making buses zero-emission, improving links between buses, trams and trains, and being transparent when reporting figures.
Speaking about the plan, Nottingham city councillor and committee member David Mellen said: “If we are to persuade people to get out of their cars, then these things need to happen. It might be a gradual process, but it’s the way we need to go.
“The trick is to ensure that we tender the right services in the right places to encourage people to say: ‘Actually, I’m going to catch the bus because car parking is expensive, I get stuck in long traffic queues and, actually, the bus will get me there quicker.’
“That’s what we need to persuade people. People are persuaded that when you go to London, generally you don’t drive because the train is a better way to do it, and that’s how we need to persuade people. This is a big, big mountain to climb and if we manage to climb even halfway up, then I think it will have shown that EMCCA has revolutionised life for most people in this region.”
As part of the six priorities, most interestingly, there will be plans to create a standardised ticket system whereby the same tickets are sold by all bus companies and across all four areas, just like on trains.
In addition to that, people would be able to tap on and off anywhere, with the cheapest fare calculated based on the start and the end of their journey, like on the London Underground.
And there are proposals to introduce an on-demand bus service in Derbyshire, as an extension of Nottinghamshire’s existing NottsBus On Demand service.
The plan has been largely influenced by the results of East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward’s “Big Transport Conversation” public consultation, which ran between November and February.
It asked local people what they thought needed improving about public transport.
There were over 36,000 responses, with “top concerns” listed by EMCCA as frequent and reliable bus journeys, the maintenance of roads and affordable journeys for young people.
Newark & Sherwood district councillor Claire Penny told the meeting she thought there were “no surprises” in the results of the consultation.
The East Midlands has the highest levels of car-dependent new-build housing in the UK, according to data listed in EMCCA documents.
According to data from 2022, it also boasted the highest year-on-year growth in car ownership of any region in the country.
By Joseph Connolly, Local Democracy Reporter
