Delivering sustainable public transport: The case of the Better Bus Area Fund

Transport for South Hampshire, a joint board responsible for transport planning for a conurbation of over one million people, successfully bid for the UK's Better Bus Area Fund. This will result in investments of 7.4 pound million over the period 2012 to 2014, of which 4.5 pound million will come from central government. Investments will include installation of Wi-Fi on vehicles, Near Field Communication (NFC) tags and Next Stop Displays and Announcement systems, along with marketing initiatives, the development of mobile apps and the refurbishment of buses. These investments will be complemented by other initiatives in the conurbation, not least some 27 pound million of investments from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund over the period 2012 to 2015, including the development of key interchange points and bus corridors. This paper will outline the methodology that has been developed to monitor and evaluate these investments and will detail the baseline surveys that have been undertaken, the anticipated impacts on attitudes to and usage of bus services and the results of the initial implementation of the investment programme. The extent to which such investments can revitalise bus services in an area where there has been a long run historic decline will be assessed. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.