31.3% of bus services in West Sussex axed under the Conservatives, but we have a plan to turn things around

Shocking new figures reveal that a third of the county’s bus services have been axed under the Conservatives. Despite the Conservatives promising “bus services so frequent you wouldn’t need a timetable”, in 2022 the total number of miles driven by buses in West Sussex has plummeted by 7,800,000 miles compared to five years ago.

Nationally over 1,000 services have been lost in the last year alone.

Meanwhile fares have surged by 45%, twice as fast as wages since 2010 putting huge pressure on passengers.

Labour has announced the first steps in plans to reform the country’s broken bus system and hand power and control back to local communities like Crawley.

Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, has vowed to deliver the biggest reform to the bus sector in forty years.

Britain is the only country in the developed world where bus operators have the power to set routes and fares, with no say for local communities.   

Labour will end this broken system and hand power and control to local communities through the Take Back Control Act in the first King’s Speech of a Labour government. This bold plan would represent the biggest reform to the bus sector in a generation and put communities firmly back in control of the public transport they depend upon.