Devon County Council backs plans for £10.3 million bus service improvements

Devon County Councillors have approved plans for just over £10.3 million of improvements to the bus network across the county.

Devon County Council is receiving the funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) to support its Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) for the 2025/26 financial year.

The Council’s Cabinet backed a high level plan of how this latest BSIP grant will be invested to increase bus patronage across the county, and build on the achievements of previous BSIP projects.

The BSIP plan to be delivered by March 2026 includes:

• Bus priority technology and bus stop infrastructure improvements (including bus shelters and real time information) on key routes which have frequent and direct bus services. These include Honiton to Exeter/Uni/St Davids Station; Bideford and Ilfracombe to Barnstaple; and Newton Abbot/Teignmouth to Exeter;

• Continuing to reduce carbon emissions from the bus fleet in Devon by providing investment opportunities to small and medium sized operators and supporting Stagecoach in its delivery of the ZEBRA2 project to bring Zero Emission Battery-Electric buses to Devon;

• Support to maintain the existing bus services for the duration of the BSIP funding, with a proportion of funding to offset the impact of high inflationary rises in contracts on County Council supported services, and to lessen the impact of any commercial routes being withdrawn by operators;
• Investment in key interchanges including the Exeter Park & Ride sites.

It will also improve the frequency of the best performing services in the county to give them the best chance of becoming commercially sustainable.

This includes Service K in Exeter which will have five additional off peak-journeys Monday to Friday as well as evening and Sunday journeys; Service 1 Cullompton to Exeter will increase its Monday to Friday daytime frequency to every 15 minutes; Service 2 Newton Abbot -Teignmouth – Exeter will increase Monday to Friday daytime frequency to every 20 minutes; Service 9/44A Sidmouth – Honiton – Exeter will increase its Sunday frequency to four journeys; and Service 21/21A Bideford to Barnstaple will increase its Monday to Friday off-peak frequency during autumn and winter to every 15 minutes.

Results from Devon and Torbay’s annual bus passenger survey in 2024 found that of the 2,800 people who responded, 87.9% were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their experience on their bus journey – up slightly from 87% last year.

Devon County Council’s previous allocation of Bus Service Improvement Plan funding has supported:

• Development of a new contraflow bus lane on the one-way section of New North Road between John Lewis and Waterstones in Exeter City Centre;
• Improvements to bus waiting facilities and information at Barnstaple Bus Station, Tiverton Bus Station, Tavistock Bus Station and an improved bus waiting area near Seaton Esplanade;
• The installation of more than 100 new “living roof” shelters as part of a rolling replacement programme and a significant investment in the real time information system used across the county;
• Improving over 15 bus services across Devon including the introduction of several new commuter services timed to attract students and workers to use the bus for their commute.

The County Council must submit delivery plans for its 25/26 BSIP grant to the DfT by the end of this month (March).