Bus Service Improvement Plan
The Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) is a strategic document which describes how Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) and operators in a given area will look to achieve the goals of the National Bus Strategy. The BSIP provides a framework for delivery while acting as a bidding document for future funding available to achieve many of the objectives of the National Bus Strategy.
In response to the strategy we submitted the BSIP at the end of October 2021, with a total funding ask of £213m over a three-year period. In April 2022, shortly after introducing its Enhanced Partnership in line with Government guidance, we learnt that only £35.1m was being allocated in response to the submission.
Whilst the allocation was significantly less than the £213m requested and would not deliver the level of ambition contained within Kent’s BSIP, this is still a positive outcome as of the 79 LTAs which submitted a BSIP, only 31 received any allocation of funding.
In March 2023, we received the first portion of BSIP funding of £18.9m, to use on an agreed list of initiatives for 2023 to 24. Only a small fraction of this funding can be spent on bus services themselves, with most of the money being spent on bus priority, infrastructure schemes and other initiatives.
In June 2023 the Government announced that we can expect to receive the remainder of our initial allocation, approximately £16m, and we are now working with them on the formal acceptance of this funding.