Better Buses East Midlands

24/04/2026

Here is an article in the Guardian about left behind communities suffering with the removal of bus stops - this one in Cornwall stops outside the village entailing a walk uphill on a road with no pavement apparently.

‘It’s a big loss’: what happens when a beautiful village loses its bus route?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/21/what-happens-when-beautiful-village-loses-bus-route-mousehole-cornwall

This is happening up and down the country, including in the East Midlands, where rural bus services have been cut leaving communities isolated.

Mousehole in Cornwall once had a butcher, post office and general store. Now it doesn’t even have an ATM – and one of its crucial bus services has been cut. Can residents save this vital resource?

20/03/2026

It is very exciting to see what's happening to transport in South Yorkshire - the people's network (some of which is only possible with public control!)

A TV package covering Oliver Coppard announcing the new South Yorkshire People’s Transport Network, a major plan to reshape transport across the region with ...

07/03/2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad2aOxa0YeY

Please share this powerful video widely. We need Better Buses.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

06/02/2026

Great to see the new 'Ride' app is proving so popular;

A free Ride travel app for commuters in Nottingham and Derby and backed by the Mayor of the East Midlands has been downloaded more than 5,000 times in the first six weeks since launch.

20/01/2026

Do you want better buses? More bus lanes? Public control of buses? Better information on buses? Do you have issues with your current bus service? Now is your chance to have your say. The East Midlands Mayor, Claire Ward, has launched a consultation on her Transport Plan and there are lots of questions on buses. The deadline is 8 February.

Details of the consultation and how to respond are here; https://www.eastmidlands-cca.gov.uk/mayors-transport-plan/

Better Buses East Midlands are supporting the briefing document below, produced by the EMCCA Climate Coalition to assist you with completing the individual questionnaire which has lots of good suggestions for buses;
https://actionnetwork.org/user_files/user_files/000/134/842/original/20251218-2025-11-27-emcca-ts-final-ar-7-55.pdf?link_id=3&can_id=767d9a672bb92fb83516cacb33c5b5f7&source=email-emcca-mayors-transport-plan-consultation&email_referrer=email_3026409&email_subject=emcca-mayors-transport-plan-consultation&&

The Mayor of the East Midlands has launched the region’s biggest listening exercise in decades – a 12-week conversation to shape a bold new 15-year transport vision.

11/12/2025

😮Yesterday I was greeted by a 'protest' in the office, but it was the type of protest I like!

🚌 Better Buses East Midlands have come together from all corners of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to ask for, well, better buses!

🎅They dressed up for the occasion, as you can see! I enjoyed some adapted Christmas-themed bus tunes and was handed 2200 signatures (in the form of a Christmas gift), which I have added to my Mayor's Big Transport Conversation.

♥️Crucially, they also read out some stories from real people across the region who struggle to access reliable or affordable public transport.

🫶I really appreciate them coming together as a collective to ask for better buses and engaging with my Big Transport Conversation.

✅While franchising remains a tool in the box, my first priority is working with partners so that people feel the benefit of better buses (and trains, and roads, and active travel routes!) as quickly as possible.

09/12/2025

Thanks to everyone who battled the weather to get to Chesterfield today where we handed our petition to Mayor Claire Ward asking her to take buses back into public control. What a fabulous bus sleigh (thanks Georgina and Adam). All went well - we sang songs (thanks Nigel) handed over the petition, and stayed dry :) The Mayor seemed pleased to see us and to receive the petition which calls for bus services in the East Midlands to be taken into public control. It is important that we keep calling for this in order to ensure that public money is spent on public good.

The Mayor’s Big Transport Conversation runs from 17 November 2025 to 8 February 2026. Visit her webpage to have your say and be part of building a better-connected East Midlands. https://www.eastmidlands-cca.gov.uk/news/big-transport-conversation/

07/12/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4pL2dStA9g

East Mids Better Buses campaign video.

06/12/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x422R1zUuBo

East Mids Better Buses campaign video

05/12/2025

The Government has released annual bus statistics for the year ending March 2025.

Annual bus statistics: year ending March 2025
Greater Manchester, where Mayor Andy Burnham has taken its buses back into public control, has seen one one of the highest growth in passenger journeys between 2024-25 (+11%) compared to 3% in Nottingham and 2% in Derbyshire. More info on what public control means and the benefits can be found in these FAQs