Research Reveals Stark Contrast Between Buses Growth in Bedford Borough and Shrinking Service in Tory-Run Central Bedfordshire

The Liberal Democrats have revealed that bus users in Lib Dem-led Bedford Borough and Conservative-run Central Bedfordshire are receiving drastically different services.

In Bedford Borough, the Lib Dems have expanded the number of miles covered by local busses from 2.5 million miles in 2013/14 to 3.4 million miles in 2017/18 (latest available statistics). Meanwhile, the Conservatives in Central Bedfordshire have reduced services from 4.1 million miles to 3.3 million miles.

For subsidised services, typically covering rural areas, the disparity is even more shocking, with Bedford Borough benefiting from an increase of 66% from 0.3 million miles to 0.5 million miles, while Central Beds has seen a 62% cut from 1.3 million miles to 0.5 million miles.

It is especially shocking that bus services are now roughly the same in both authorities, despite Central Bedfordshire being one and a half times larger than Bedford Borough in both population and land area.

Daniel Norton, parliamentary candidate for North East Bedfordshire, which straddles both local authority areas, said:

"I'm shocked to see the difference between bus services in Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire. Rural services are a lifeline for people in North East Bedfordshire, and I know the Liberal Democrats, led by Mayor Dave Hodgson, have worked hard to protect services against government funding cuts."

"I knew services had been cut in Central Bedfordshire but until I saw this research, I hadn't realised quite how badly Central Bedfordshire's Conservatives had let down their local residents."

"The Liberal Democrats pledge to look after our rural communities - increasing funding for buses, enabling local authorities to restore old routes and open new ones and accelerating the transition to electric buses. This is part of a packages of measures for rural communities, including greater access to fibre broadband and mobile data infrastructure and reforming planning to make sure developers provide essential local infrastructure."