Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Norwich North, Alice Macdonald, has launched a new campaign focussed on improving transport for people in Norwich North.

The first phase of the campaign is focussed on buses. Alice has launched a survey to find out more about people’s experiences locally. Britain is one of the few places in the developed world that hands operators’ power to slash bus services and hike fares, with little say for the communities who depend on them.

Despite the Conservatives promising “bus services so frequent you wouldn’t need a timetable”, in 2022 the total number of kilometres driven by buses in Norfolk fell by over 30% compared to five years ago.

Nationally over 1,000 bus services were lost between 2021 and 2022.  Labour has announced the first steps in plans to reform the country’s broken bus 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 on

Alice says:

‘I’ve heard from many people about the challenges they face with public transport. Young people have told me that the buses they need to get to college are often too unreliable and for many people the routes they need simply aren’t available.

“The only way to fix this Is to reform the system and put power back where it belongs, in the hands of the communities who depend on buses the most. I want to hear from people about the problems they are facing locally and would encourage people to take this survey.’

The findings of the survey will be shared with local transport providers and will help Alice to stand up for people in Norwich North.