Employees and other groups are being targeted by a free or discounted travel incentive to help them switch from private cars
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) will be offering thousands of workers try-before-you-buy bus tickets as part of a £19 million Government-funded scheme to drive up bus passenger numbers and protect services. The incentive scheme is being offered to employers to invite staff who currently travel by car to work to sign up for a Swift travel card or account to get a period of free or discounted bus travel. TfWM says it hopes that the scheme will encourage many more people to switch to bus travel long-term and help keep more bus services on the road, as well as reduce the number of private cars, thereby reducing traffic congestion and pollution across the West Midlands.
In addition to employer schemes there will be further groups who will be targeted to offer access to public transport, TfWM says, such as care leavers and apprentices.
The local transport authority highlighted that although a recent study by the Centre for Cities highlighted that British cities are lagging behind many other global cities when it comes to commuting by sustainable travel, bus patronage in the West Midlands is now above pre-Covid levels. TfWM says the new incentive scheme is part of a package of measures being introduced in partnership with bus operators, backed with Government funding, to make services even more attractive to commuters.
TfWM has also begun the recruitment of more transport safety officers to tackle anti-social behaviour and expanded subsidies to keep ‘at risk’ and socially necessary services running, as well as improving bus priority measures to improve service reliability.
TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), will use part of the £88 million Bus Service Improvement Plan funding awarded last year to support the new incentive scheme. Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA Chair Andy Street said: “Buses are the backbone of our public transport network providing vital services for hundreds of thousands of people every day. I’m really pleased therefore that patronage on our buses is now above pre-pandemic levels, however we still need to do so much more to get people onto public transport to tackle congestion and the climate emergency. That’s why we’ve launched this new scheme to entice more people on board our buses, and I would urge anyone offered the chance – both lapsed and first-time bus customers – to take part and give the bus a go.
“This new scheme is of course just one part of a wide range of improvements we are bringing to our bus network with investment in cleaner zero-emission buses, bus priority measures on the new Sprint routes improving reliability, and some of the cheapest bus fares in the country.”
Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for transport and leader of Walsall Council, added: “From electric buses in Coventry to the tram extension in the Black Country, we are putting unprecedented funding into our public transport to ensure more people have affordable public transport linking them to job and leisure opportunities across our region and beyond. Crucially, while bus services in many other parts of the country have been cut in recent years, we have protected them here in the West Midlands and are looking at new ways, including this incentive scheme, to build a sustainable future for our bus services.”
