Cumbria MPs react to Council announcement of new bus routes

The Council are using £3.5 million in Government funding to bring in new routes and make existing ones better. 

This decision follows a community meeting held by Carlisle MP Julie Minns, Cllr Denise Rollo and operators Stagecoach.

Julie Minns has commented on the update from the Council (Image: Facebook) Julie Minns said, following the announcement on July 24: "Buses are a lifeline. They take us to and from work, enable us to socialise and visit family, and help reduce social isolation.

"But we need more routes to take us to more places, and that is exactly what today’s announcement from Cumberland proposes to do."

Among the improvements planned are extra journeys between Carlisle and Anthorn, including a new Sunday service, and the return of a route linking Kirkbride to Carlisle, passing through villages such as Cargo, Houghton and Rockcliffe. 

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Minns said: "These potential new services show what can be achieved when a Labour Government and a Labour Council work together in lockstep, and I’d like to thank the team at Cumberland Council who have sifted through over 3,000 responses from local people to come up with the proposed new routes.” 

Alongside imrovements to bus services in Carlisle, A new coastal service will run between Whitehaven and Ravenglass, and buses between Carlisle and Cockermouth will run more frequently, linking people to hospitals and job sites.

Josh MacAlister supports the new bus announcement (Image: Josh MacAlister) MP for Whitehaven and Workington, Josh MacAlister, said: "The decision by Cumberland Council is the biggest boost to bus services in West Cumbria in a generation, following years of decline as subsidies and routes were slashed under the previous government.

"The routes the council has agreed to support, using funding provided by the new government, will connect many more towns and villages across our area to the public transport network, some of which haven’t seen a bus in years.

"Thousands more people will be able to hop on a bus to get to work or college, visit friends and family, do some shopping or enjoy leisure activities. Combating loneliness and isolation and boosting our local economy."

The Council has also committed to keeping several services it introduced last November, including those linking Silloth to Maryport and Maryport to Egremont.

A new coastal service will run following the funding (Image: Supplied) Josh MacAlister added: "What we now need is for private operators to step up and bid to run these services.

"We can’t have a situation where the community wants a service, the government and council agree to fund the service, but operators don’t then step up to deliver it.

"I’ll be writing to bus operators calling on them to step up and writing to the communities set to benefit urging them to ‘Back the Bus’ and commit to using the new services to make them sustainable for the long term.”