Massive uplift in bus usage in the county
Funding for the county council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) has seen a huge increase in the number of services, the times they run and the number of people using them.
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Hide AdIn some areas bus use has seen a massive 118 per cent daily increase in user numbers and a huge 72 per cent uplift a week in the number of people making bus travel part of their week.
In figures now available, Sleaford Town service has had a boost of 47 per cent when comparing week-for-week in 2023 to 2024. That means an additional 17,000 passengers now getting about en masse instead of using more polluting means of private transport.
Boston to Lincoln’s Saturday service has an average increase on the daily passenger figures of 112 per cent which equates to an extra 5,000 people using the one-day-a-week service since June.
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Hide AdSkegness town services are also seeing hundreds more passengers every week. When comparing the same period this year to last, Skegness averaged an extra 725 passengers a week and there’s a 45 per cent increase in average passenger numbers travelling on the Mablethorpe to Skegness summer service, year-on-year.
LCC’s on-demand Callconnect bus service has also seen a massive number of people taking up what’s on offer. The £2 single-journey fare cap has already had 77,500 customers enjoying the convenience to get around Lincolnshire.
Coun Richard Davies, executive member for Transport said: “These passenger numbers are terrific and show just how successful our work with local bus providers has been so far with 150,000 additional passengers confirmed to have travelled in the county.
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Hide Ad“We have worked closely with local bus companies, using funding for the Bus Service Improvement Plan to increase the right services in the right areas and even bring some older, discontinued services back.
“As soon as we started this work, we saw people returning to bus use right across Lincolnshire on the improved services. We were encouraged to continue our work further with more funding, and the results are speaking for themselves.”