Plymouth bus service improvements

On 15 March 2021 the Government published the National Bus Strategy for England ‘Bus Back Better’. The strategy is intended to deliver cheaper, more frequent and more reliable bus services for passengers.

The strategy requires the establishment of a formal partnership arrangement for buses across all local authority areas outside London. This must be led by the Council, as the Local Transport Authority (LTA).

Enhanced Partnership

The formation of a statutory Enhanced Partnership is necessary in order to be eligible for future Government funding.

The Enhanced Partnership is formed of two elements:

• the Enhanced Partnership Plan - sets out the plans outlined in the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), providing the context for the proposed local bus service improvements
• the Enhanced Partnership Scheme - sets out in more detail how the plan objectives will be achieved through an agreed set of actions. Further schemes can be made as required to facilitate delivery of the Plan

The EP Plan and Scheme is the legal framework to deliver the BSIP. This allows the Council and local bus operators to work together to deliver an improved bus network and bus infrastructure to meet Plymouth residents’ priorities and meet the BSIP objectives. The LTA has formal responsibility to form the partnership. It can only proceed with proposals if it has the support and input of local bus operators.

As required under the legislation, the Council was required to consult stakeholders on the proposal to make the EP Plan and Scheme that will deliver the BSIP so that stakeholders’ views on the Plan and Scheme could be considered before it was finalised.

Members approved the development and implementation of Plymouth’s Enhanced Partnership at Cabinet on 9 February 2023.

The Enhanced Partnership has now been made and is effective from 1 April 2023.

The EP Forum and EP Board will meet quarterly to discuss and review the progress of the plans outlined in the EP and BSIP. Details of how these meetings are held can be found in the EP Plan and Scheme documents linked above. The agenda and minutes of each meeting will be shared on this page when available.

Forum meetings

Board meetings

The commitment to develop an Enhanced Partnership (EP) was made by the Council in June 2021. 

Bus Service Improvement Plan

The Council, as the LTA, are also required to lead the preparation of a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) for submission to the Department for Transport (DfT) setting out what the Enhanced Partnership will deliver in order to make buses easier, cheaper and more convenient to use.

The Plymouth BSIP has been developed in partnership with our public transport providers.

Please find letters of support below from local bus operators:

Mailing list

If you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive notifications about BSIP updates and reports email buspartnership@plymouth.gov.uk to sign up.

Zero emission bus bid

The DfT is making £129 million available to support the introduction of zero emission buses in England.

Only local transport authorities that have formed an ‘Enhanced Partnership’ with local bus operators or have begun the statutory process to decide whether to implement franchising may apply to this ZEBRA 2 (Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas 2) fund.

Plymouth City Council formed an Enhanced Partnership in April 2023 and is leading a bid, in partnership with Plymouth Citybus (part of The Go-Ahead Group Ltd) and Cornwall Council.

If successful the bid will see the introduction of 50 zero emission, electric, double decker buses on routes operating in Plymouth and the Rame Peninsula as well as the necessary associated charging infrastructure at the Plymouth Citybus depot, in Milehouse.

The acquisition of the electric buses will not only enhance the routes that they will operate, through the use of modern, zero emission buses, but will also allow the cascade of existing Euro 6 diesel buses displaced from the electrified routes onto other services in Plymouth and South East Cornwall, modernising the entire Plymouth Citybus fleet operating in the Plymouth travel-to-work area.

This will mean better transport to places of work, education, leisure and healthcare and improvements in air quality.

It will also strongly support the climate change ambitions in the Council’s Net Zero Action Plan.

Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: “I’m very pleased that the Council, in partnership with Plymouth Citybus Ltd (part of the Go-Ahead Group Ltd) and Cornwall Council are bidding to the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area’s (ZEBRA) 2 Fund.

The bid, if successful, provides a transformational opportunity to modernise Plymouth’s bus fleet, significantly advance the Council’s commitment to decarbonise transport and boost bus patronage through a multi-million investment, by members of the Plymouth Enhanced Partnership, and Department for Transport, in Zero Emission Buses.”

The deadline for submitting bids was 4pm on Friday 15 December 2023 and the outcome is due to be announced by April 2024.

A copy of Plymouth City Council’s application to the ZEBRA 2 fund is available below.

Please note commercially sensitive information has been removed from the published application form which is why parts of the form are blank.