Boris gets chatty about buses
Boris Johnson took the weight off his feet as he chatted with bus drivers during a visit to the West Midlands.
The Prime Minister was in the region to announce a major shake-up of the bus sector, with plans including lower fares and greener travel.
During his trip Mr Johnson – who famously makes model buses in his spare time to relax – talked with bus drivers at the National Express depot in Coventry.
Having long espoused the virtues of bus travel, it was perhaps unsurprising that he looked right at home holding court from the back seat of a city bus.
One of Mr Johnson's key successes as Mayor of London was to reform bus travel in the capital, and now he hopes to do the same for the rest of the country having pledged to “make buses the transport of choice” to improve people's quality of life.
He appears to have a major task on his hands.
The Campaign for Better Transport says 3,000 bus services have been axed over the past decade, largely down to a 40 per cent cut in local authority bus funding.
The reduction has particularly affected smaller towns and rural areas, including parts of Staffordshire, Shropshire and the Black Country.
