Almost £12m awarded to improve region's buses

Almost £12m will be pumped into improving bus services across Lincolnshire.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh handed £11.8m to Lincolnshire County Council to help "bring an end to the postcode lottery of bus services".

The funding has been allocated based on "place need and levels of deprivation and population", according to the Department for Transport.

Councillor Richard Davies said: “This funding announcement is very welcome news and comes on the heels of two years of hard work with our bus improvement programme."

The council said it was too soon to say what the money would be spent on.

Benefits of previous funding included increasing the amount of bus routes and their frequency, which led to an extra 150,000 passengers, Mr Davies said.

Haigh said the value of bus services "cannot be understated".

"This funding kickstarts the bus revolution to bring an end to the postcode lottery of bus services, drive economic growth and make sure people have proper access to jobs and opportunities," she added.

The government announced in its recent Budget that the single bus fare cap in England will rise from £2 to £3.

On Sunday, it announced almost £1bn in funding will go to delivering "London-style" buses across the country.

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