Mayor Dr Nik Johnson is planning a bus revolution for Cambridgeshire.

A bid for Government funding will be submitted on October 29 that will include a new fast bus service between Huntingdon and Cambridge.

It also includes later bus services across the county, a guarantee of CCTV in every bus and a promise that all buses will be cleaned daily.

Dr Johnson wants Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to gain a share of the £3bn over three years to improve buses and get more of us using them.

The public will get a three-month window to consider bus reform with a mix of electronic, online and local roadshows.

The Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) requires all bus operators and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CAPCA) to agree.

“The Department for Transport (DfT) is clear in asking for ambitious plans, which can make a significant difference for the travelling public,” says a report to CAPCA board members. .

CAPCA says its starting point is their ‘Vision For Bus”, developed before lockdown which says lack of travel opportunities should be available for everyone.

It says their studies have shown the top items that matter to passengers are

*Punctuality

*Frequency

*Polite driver

*Clean bus

*Personal safety.

Other sources of data have been used as well, including East Cambridgeshire District Council’s 2020 report on bus needs.

CAPCA says its intention is to add extra buses to improve the frequencies of city services “and our important inter urban routes”.

It adds: “Overlaying our existing network is proposed a rural network where we wish to see a dramatic increase in mobility for people living in rural areas and our many villages.”

CAPCA says it has identified a need for a new fast express bus service between Huntingdon and Cambridge.

It adds: “We are proposing trials of evening services which serve different desire-line destinations to the daytime services, to reflect the travelling public’s different travel patterns.”

Mayor Johnson says the aim is to create improvements in the bus services to encourage more people out of cars into public transport.

Behaviour and cultural change will be the key to mode shift and incentives will be developed to make bus transport a real alternative choice to the motorist.