MOREBUS is launching a campaign aiming to persuade more people onto public transport and reduce congestion in Bournemouth.

A recent report by TomTom revealed Bournemouth was the fourth most congested ‘city’ in the UK, and the town’s traffic issues were only surpassed by Edinburgh, London and Brighton.

As part of their positive change campaign, Morebus is offering people the chance to travel anywhere within their ‘zone A’ for £2 a day. This is based on a 30 day travel ticket on the clickit2ride app or theKey.

‘Zone A’ covers all of Bournemouth and stretches to Sandbanks, Hamworthy, Poole, Broadstone, Bearwood, Christchurch and Mudeford.

Andrew Wickham, Morebus managing director, said: “We know that bus running times have increased between Poole and Bournemouth over recent years, and this is a direct consequence of the number of cars circulating in the area.

“A large number of visitors to Bournemouth already use the bus, but journey times would decrease greatly if even more people chose to leave their cars at home. And improving travel times for those living and working in the area is not the only advantage public transport can bring.

“Over recent years we have invested £7.2 million in 41 newer, more efficient, buses for our M1 and M2 routes, with a further £1.23 million in five new double decker buses for our route 13. It’s important to remember that just one of these larger buses has the potential to take 75 cars off the road.

“As well as improving reliability and convenience for people in-and-around Bournemouth, buses can provide the perfect and affordable answer to reducing air pollution and congestion.

“We will be doing everything possible over the coming months and years to make travelling by bus a more attractive proposition, helping to reduce the impact current congestion levels have on the local community.”

The report by TomTom claimed that 30-minute trips in morning rush hours were, on average, taking 18 minutes extra, and 20 minutes extra in evening rush hours in Bournemouth in 2019.