Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support the roll-out of demand responsive transport in Shropshire.

The government believes demand responsive transport (DRT) has an important role to play in ensuring communities can access transport services in areas where more traditional, regular stopping services may not be viable.

Shropshire Council has been allocated over £9.2 million of funding since 2023 to improve their bus services. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services for passengers can be used in whichever way they wish. Shropshire have used some of this funding to support an expansion of their Connect On-Demand DRT service in July 2024 and January 2025.

We are also developing DRT Best Practice Guidance, which will share learnings from existing DRT schemes to support local authorities to set up similar schemes.