Some say the city has a long way to go
Alison Stephenson Local Democracy Reporter
06:00, 08 Dec 2025
Bus passenger Elizabeth Casey from Ernesettle(Image: Alison Stephenson)
Plymouth needs a more frequent and reliable bus service if it wants to get more cars off the road, that’s the verdict of some local residents who say that public transport in the city has gone downhill since Covid.
Speaking to bus users in Royal Parade on the day the road and buses minister Simon Lightwood was in town to announce £5.2 million a year for Plymouth for the next three years, they were quite clear that city has a long way to go to make bus travel appealing to workers, shoppers and visitors.
The deal for Plymouth is part of a £245.9 million boost for buses in the South West.
The government is devolving power from Whitehall so local authorities can make decisions on how the money is spent in association with bus companies and communities.
It says this multi-year settlement enables them to make long term investments which they have been held back from doing in recent years.
Plymouth City Council is on a journey to increase bus use which has fallen since the Covid pandemic and started to implement a bus service improvement plan in 2023. This has included new routes being introduced, more services on Sundays, better bus stops, digital passenger information and safety and accessibility improvements at Royal Parade which sees over 100 services an hour stop there.
Fifty new electric buses have also been introduced through a £31 million joint partnership between Plymouth City Council, Cornwall Council and Citybus, with £10 million coming from government.
But customers are annoyed by the disruption at Royal Parade since July which has meant bus stops being temporarily moved. The work will continue until spring next year.
The ongoing improvement to the Royal Parade bus stops.(Image: Alison Stephenson)
Elizabeth Casey from Ernesettle said it would have been better if the bus bays had been completed one at a time rather than close the whole area off for nearly a year which had caused a lot of disruption.
She said the app which had been introduced to give people updated information on buses had been “useful” but when the system was down and the information did not update it was frustrating: “It happens numerous times,” she said.
She said the hourly Sunday service from the Pennycross area into the city was not frequent enough and buses were often cancelled and not replaced resulting in many, mostly elderly residents, standing around in the cold and wet during the winter.
A reduction in fares would encourage more people to use the buses, she added.
“If more people use public transport there will be less cars on the road which is a good thing but the council needs to do more to make that happen.
“At the moment there are not enough buses and they are unreliable.”
On the subject of electric buses she said: “They cost a lot and there can be a lot of issues with them. I do not want to be breaking down in the middle of nowhere.”
Plymouth bus passenger Melanie Wright(Image: Alison Stephenson)
Melanie Wright from Beacon Park called the bus service “a disaster since covid”. She said before that it was “brilliant”.
She felt that bus routes could be much more joined up.
Residents in Beacon Park were having to walk some distance to bus stops to access more frequent services which ran from Ham.
She said this was not good for elderly people.
Other bus users expressed similar issues and also raised the issue of complicated school transport, suggesting that all school age children living in the city should get free bus passes regardless of which school they attended or where they lived.
Plymouth City Council cabinet member for strategic planning and highways Cllr John Stephens (Plymstock Dunstone) who met minister for roads and buses Simon Lightwood at Coypool Park and Ride on Thursday along with Stagecoach South West managing director Peter Knight, said the money from the government could be used on potentially lowering fares but the £3 single fare cap set by the government would continue.
Road and buses minister Simon Lightwood at Coypool Park and Ride in Plymouth(Image: Alison Stephenson)
He said passengers could go from Plymouth to Paignton for a £6 return and city single fares were capped at £2.50 because people were travelling shorter distances.
There was also a Skipper ticket, where people could use multiple buses regardless of operator for £7.50 a day with weekly and monthly options too. A big promotion on this is planned in the near future, he said. Discussions were yet to take place regarding combined rail and bus tickets.
Cllr Stephens said the city council engaged with many forums to improve safety, accessibility and passenger experience on buses and the number of people using the buses each year was growing since the pandemic.
The new multi-year settlement would help the council to further the aims in its improvement plan which included more frequent and reliable services.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure public transport meets needs which often means they must subsidise socially necessary but commercially unviable routes.
Managing director of Stagecoach South West Peter Knight with Plymouth City Council cabinet member for strategic planning and transport Cllr John Stephens.(Image: Alison Stephenson)
Stagecoach MD Mr Knight said he welcomed the announcement for funding in Plymouth as it “secures the network we run today and as a partnership we will be investigating what other opportunities are available” but he added: “ I would urge everybody to consider what a comparable alternative is, bus transport and bus fares are still exceptionally good value for money in the context of everyday life.”
Regarding Stagecoach’s recent charges to its fare structure and ticketing boundaries across Devon he said: “I know that anything that increases or changes is often challenging for people but we all feel pressures of everyday living going up including business, communities and local authorities.”
