Somerset Council is considering a range of new proposals to improve bus provision in the county under a major government funded initiative.

The Council has already trialled initiatives such as evening bus services and capped fares in Taunton along with plans for transport hubs in the county and bus priority measures following an initial £12 million in funding from government for the Somerset Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) in 2022.

Just over £6 million of further funding for this year (2025/26) was announced by the government at the end of last year and the Council is now considering how this money should be spent.

Potential investment themes discussed with bus user groups and bus operators at last week’s Bus Advisory included:

• A new package of proposals for both Yeovil and Bridgwater, including evening bus services, feasibility studies for transport hubs in both towns, bus priority signal measures and other service improvements and trials.
• In Taunton evening services are to be reviewed with a view to continued funding for the best used routes.
• Maintaining the £1 Park and Ride fare in Taunton and supporting the development of Taunton’s Transport hub
• A review of current BSIP Plus funded services across the county. These were services that were no longer commercially viable. BSIP Plus was extra money provided by Government to save such services from complete withdrawal.
• Trialling other service improvements within the county and improving county-wide information and bus shelter infrastructure.

The current BSIP-funded £1.50 single fare for Taunton runs until 31 March. There are no plans to continue this due to the cost and the fact that spending the money here will prohibit wider county initiatives.

The Government confirmed last month that a fare cap remains in place at just £3 for any single journey across Somerset an England until December 2025.

Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Waste Services, Councillor Richard Wilkins said:

The BSIP settlement this year is positive and we want to look at an exciting range of proposals across more towns.

The fare cap trial in Taunton has been extremely successful but continuing that is costly, and we want to prioritise funding on BSIP initiatives and benefits across the wider county.

We’ve shown we can make a difference in Taunton, now it is time to do that in Yeovil and Bridgwater and the wider county.

Part of this process will also involve a full review of all nine BSIP- Plus funded routes across Somerset with the operator.

Measures and costings are yet to be decided and there will be a further report for Somerset Council’s Planning and Transport Sub Committee next month, followed by a report to Scrutiny.

A final decision will be taken on any proposals in the spring.