A TEAM that promotes sustainable transport in Darlington is celebrating after winning a national award.

Darlington’s Local Motion group, which works in partnership with bus company Arriva, was awarded Project Team of the Year at the Smarter Travel Awards held in Birmingham.

They were praised for reinvigorating bus services in Darlington through a range of measures including upgrading bus stop facilities and encouraging bus priority at key junctions to improve punctuality and reliability.

Last year alone 31 new buses were introduced in the borough and lower fares were charged on some routes to make it easier for residents outside the town to access jobs and services in Darlington.

The project’s success means that it will be used as a template to be rolled out across the region.

Councillor David Lyonette, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for transport, said:

“Encouraging more people to travel to town by bus offers the most sustainable way to grow employment, shopping and leisure facilities in town.

“The team at Local Motion works hard to try and do this and it is wonderful to see their work recognised as they have achieved some fantastic results.”

Following the work of the project, bus patronage has now stabilised and the statistics for 2014/15 show that fare-paying patronage is increasing.

Satisfaction with bus services in Darlington has increased steadily from 85 per cent in 2011 to 93 per cent in 2014 and Arriva punctuality data shows that over nine out of ten buses in Darlington run on time.

The project was delivered through a voluntary partnership between Darlington Borough Council and Arriva, with funding and support from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, Durham County Council, the Tees Valley Bus Network Improvement project and Arriva.