New 'bus priority lanes' will be introduced in Taunton and Bridgwater by 2025.

It comes as part of a multi-million-pound plan to boost local bus services and increase passenger numbers.

Somerset County Council was awarded £11.9m from central government in April after its bus services improvement plan was approved by the Department for Transport.

The council’s bus advisory board revealed at a meeting on Thursday morning (October 13) that nearly £5.5m of this grant will be spent on delivering new bus lanes in Taunton and Bridgwater.

Money will also be spent on two 'mobility hubs' in Taunton and Somerton, implementing 'bus priority detection' at dozens of key junctions and ongoing efforts to keep ticket prices down.

Nearly three miles of new 'bus priority lanes' will be created, with two and a half miles being built in Taunton and a further 500 metres in Bridgwater.

In addition, 26 “bus priority detection” systems will be installed at key junctions – 19 in Taunton and seven in Bridgwater. This will ensure bus services are not held up in traffic on key routes in and out of the two town centres. These two projects together will cost £5.49m. 

Two new 'mobility hubs' will be created to handle interchanges across the county. One will be built on the former bus station site on Tower Street in Taunton and one at an unspecified location in Somerton.

While the Somerton hub could be completely finished by the spring of 2023, the Taunton hub is unlikely to begin construction until early 2024.

The council will spend a further £1.35m on trialling new bus services in and around Taunton in the evenings and at weekends. It aims to bolster existing routes and support the night-time economy.

The exact details of these services will be published later in the year.