U.K.’s Johnson to Spend 5 Billion Pounds on Bus Service Overhaul

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. plans to spend 5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) on new bus and cycle routes as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s agenda to “level up” investment and infrastructure for regions outside London.

“Our daily journeys for work or leisure are about so much more than just getting from A to B -- they are the key to accessing skilled jobs and opportunities, boosting businesses and unlocking economic growth for towns, cities and regions across this country,” Johnson said in a statement ahead of his announcement to Parliament on Tuesday.

Details of the funding will be laid out in a National Bus Strategy later this year, Johnson’s office said, and will include cheaper fares, electric buses and new priority road layouts to reduce congestion. The government also plans to build 250 miles (400 kilometers) of cycle routes as part of a goal to double cycling in the U.K. by 2025, according to the statement.

Johnson is also expected to announce on Tuesday that the controversial HS2 high-speed railway link from London to northern England will go ahead, despite political opposition over rising costs. With many members of Johnson’s Conservative Party opposed to the plan, the government wants to show that the program won’t prevent investment in other infrastructure and transport improvements.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in London at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Robert Jameson

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