Buses were a lifeline for my disabled parents as I helped them get around. I've loved buses for as long as I can remember, so it was a real treat to attend the bus rally in Kings Park.
Seeing the old Bournemouth buses was a reminder of what we've lost. After 14 years of decline, our bus services no longer meet people's needs. From our regular meetings, Morebus is passionate about further improving bus travel and, with them and others, I want to build a network that responds to people's hopes.
Safety must come first. People, especially women and girls, tell me they feel unsafe travelling alone on buses or waiting at bus stops. I've raised this in Parliament because a safe transport system is essential to a thriving town. Reviving Bournemouth's town centre also means fixing the buses that should connect people to it.
Accessibility is crucial. Buses must work for children, disabled people, and older residents. England lags behind Scotland and Wales -- where concessionary passes are valid all day. Here, older and disabled people cannot travel for free before 9.30am. That needs to change. After visiting Cambian Wing College, where students raised this issue, I am pressing the government to make concessionary travel fairer and more inclusive.
Connectivity must improve. Take the 33 bus -- it links residents, shoppers, NHS staff, and carers to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Wessex Fields, Castlepoint, and Littledown Centre -- but the service could improve. With the hospital undergoing a £500m project to construct two new buildings, Wessex Fields becoming a medical and research hub, and Bournemouth Airport's £50m expansion creating jobs for 230 people and boosting capacity to three million passengers a year, demand for better buses will only grow.
Cleaner transport is essential. Air pollution contributes to asthma, heart disease, strokes, and dementia. We need a fleet of zero-emission buses. As a councillor and deputy leader, I helped secure 159 electric buses, showing ambitious goals can be achieved when the will is there.
Of course, funding is a challenge. But partnerships between Morebus, major employers, and local services can unlock investment. Smarter scheduling, for instance for the 33, and new trial routes, such as one for Throop, would meet demand. While the government has given more money to the council, it can go further, and I am lobbying for more funding.
Labour's new Bus Services Bill will go further, handing councils the power to take control where bus companies cannot sustain vital routes. It represents the biggest improvement in decades -- boosting passenger rights, ensuring zero-emission fleets by 2030, and putting communities, not profit, at the heart of public transport.
Bournemouth deserves a better bus network, one that is safe, reliable, inclusive, and clean -- just as much as we deserve better playgrounds, NHS care when you need it, more affordable housing, and action against shoplifting, dangerous e-bike use, and illegal working.