The Department for Transport announced on 14 January 2015 a £4 million pilot fund to help deliver ‘joined-up’ local transport in rural and isolated areas. The fund aims to promote better coordination, integration and utilisation of all available transport services in local communities.

Transport Minister Baroness Kramer said:
“It is common sense that we ensure that those rural and isolated areas have vital transport services that meet the needs of local communities. We must ensure every penny is being used to get local people to hospitals, schools, towns and shops. That is why we are allocating £4 million funding to help identify and coordinate all the available transport resources open to the local community, maximising their use and delivering better transport services and wider benefits to local people.”

The pilots will fund the costs of feasibility studies, helping to identify the scope for service integration in individual areas. Successful bidders will then submit a detailed plan for delivering that integration to the Department for Transport. The closing date for bids is the 11 February 2015. The winners will be announced in March 2015.

The Bidding form and guidance to apply for Total Transport pilot funding can be found here.