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BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Reading bus prices to rise after government funding ends
Bus tickets prices in Reading are set to rise as government funding comes to an borough council said five million All-Bus tickets had been sold since the scheme was introduced in March 2023 as part of its £26m Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). John Ennis, lead councillor for climate strategy and transport, said the council's scheme had brought bus usage close to pre-Covid levels, and that the authority remained "committed" to making public transport more he said the government funding "was never going to last forever" and the council could not subsidise bus travel. The All-Bus tickets allow passengers all-day travel on services run by several different operators in the Reading Monday, the ticket will cost £4.90 on an app and £5.40 if purchased on the bus. Currently, it costs £3.40 on the app and £3.50 on the Young Persons All-Bus ticket - currently £2.60 if bought on the app - will cost £4.20, and the Group All-Bus ticket will cost £10.80 during the peak period and £8.80 off-peak. Service improvements The council has introduced a number of improvements to its bus services, including the introduction of tap-on-tap-off payment and adding new services, such as those to and from Reading Green Park railway station."The council's BSIP has so far been successful in helping to bring passenger numbers close to the level they were before the Covid pandemic," said Mr Ennis."Reading already had an excellent bus service and the BSIP funding has allowed us to introduce a wide range of improvements to make bus journeys even more reliable, convenient, easier, faster and cheaper."Encouraging more people to travel by bus takes cars off roads, reduces congestion, improves air quality and benefits the health of Reading residents." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Time of India
10-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
BSIP set to provide expertise for upcoming museum in Haridwar
Lucknow: The Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, in collaboration with the Patanjali Research Foundation Trust (PRFT) and the University of Patanjali (UOP), recently held a brainstorming session to conceptualise a project — 'Museum of Origins and Continuum: A Journey of India's Land, Life, and Legacy' — to be established in Haridwar. BSIP, which has a state-of-the-art museum with a rich fossil collection, will provide its expertise for the establishment of the upcoming museum. Eminent scholars, scientists, historians, and technocrats deliberated on a comprehensive museum blueprint covering the evolution of earth, life, civilisation, and India's cultural renaissance. The session commenced with an inaugural address by Acharya Balkrishna, who addressed the gathering by highlighting a pressing issue: the weakening of our roots. Acharya emphasised that India cannot be fully comprehended through conventional historical narratives alone and must instead be understood from a global civilisational perspective. Meanwhile, Swami Ramdev discussed the "marginalisation of India's illustrious past" and asserted the pivotal role of Patanjali in reviving and safeguarding the nation's ancient cultural heritage. BSIP director Prof Mahesh G Thakkar introduced the concept of the proposed state-of-the-art museum during the session. The museum will encompass a vast thematic scope — from the origin of the earth, solar systems, and planetary formation to the emergence of life as a progression from primordial life forms to complex organisms, the development of flora and fauna, culminating in human civilisation, culture, and the Indian Renaissance. He highlighted its potential to provide a comprehensive and integrated perspective on India's scientific, cultural, and traditional legacy, thereby bridging significant gaps in existing historical accounts.
RNZ News
22-04-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Plunket scheme vaccinates fewer than 100 babies in five months
Photo: AUBERT / BSIP / BSIP via AFP Five months after signing a million-dollar contract to set up its own childhood immunisation service, Whānau Āwhina Plunket has vaccinated fewer than 100 babies. A progress report on the Plunket pilot, which was leaked to RNZ, revealed that just 53 children had been vaccinated by 17 March, following its "soft launch" in December, attended by then-Health Minister Shane Reti. While one of the programme's main objectives was to focus on "Tamariki not enrolled or engaged in primary care" - only one child did not have a GP. However, Whānau Āwhina Plunket chief executive Fiona Kingsford said she was proud of the progress made since signing the contract in October with the National Public Health Service (NPHS). "We're learning a lot in terms of setting up and working with NPHS to ensure we've got the right systems, and processes and equipment and processes in place and things like that. So we're pretty confident that as we start to move forward, the progress will speed up." There were now five sites operational - in Whangārei, Kaikohe, Taumarunui, and Hamilton (where there are two) and plans to open five more by the end of June - in Whanganui, Paeroa, Taihape, Te Awamutu, and Masterton. Six "cold chains" had been established to deliver vaccines safely, eight nurses had been trained, and 33 were under training. Kingsford said more than 76 children had now been immunised - but the actual number was not the point. "This is a pilot, we're learning by doing, so we're identifying which models work. So we don't have direct figures of what we need to hit, it's about being able to track that, and seeing what is working in each community," she said. "The point here is that we are trying to focus on the 20 percent who are vaccine hesitant, or who have chosen not to vaccinate in the past. So it is a challenging area to focus on." Health NZ said the Plunket programme was about "expanding" the vaccinator workforce and reaching whānau and their pēpi who were not enrolled with a GP, or otherwise struggling to "access" immunisation. However, Kingsford said the fact that all but one child vaccinated by Plunket before 17 March was enrolled with a GP did not suggest it was missing the mark - rather it could point to its success. "As we are working through with these immunisations, we are also promoting and ensuring that people are enrolled. "So I'm not surprised by that stat." The government target is for 95 percent of two-year-olds to be fully vaccinated by 2030, with an interim target of 84 percent coverage by June 2025. In the three months to the end of December, it was 77 percent, and lower still for Māori (63.5 percent) and Pacific babies (68.8 percent). Plunket has previously been criticised for falling short on providing services for Māori, Pacific and disabled communities . Kingsford said 9 percent of Māori babies had dropped out of the service by the age of two, compared with 5 percent overall - most commonly to transfer to another service. "Plunket sees 45,000 babies each year, and within that we see nearly 60 percent Maori and 77 percent of Pacific, so we do definitely have a strong market connection," she said. "We are really committed to ensuring we're delivering services in a culturally appropriate and relational way, and have worked to boost the rate of Maori and Pacific nurses and kaiawhina in our workforce." However, Plunket was not a kaupapa Māori service, she said. "There are 60 other providers of Well Child services and there should be choice, so we help to facilitate to make sure that transfer happens." Plunket's aim with the immunisation pilot was to support and complement the work of other providers, she said. "We know we're not 'the solution' but for us, it's every door is the right door for whānau. "If we've got a trusted relationship with those whānau and we can work with them to become immunised, that's a win/win for everybody." Kingsford said the country's largest Well Child provider aimed to have 20 immunisation sites running by the time the pilot finishes at the end of June next year. "We're really proud of the fact we're stepping into this space, immunisation rates are far too low and we all need to be working together to address this." The $1m contract was awarded to Plunket under a special exemption to the Government Procurement Rules - which meant it did not go through an open tender process. In a written response to RNZ, the National Public Health Service deputy director, Matt Hannant, said the pilot was "still in its early stages", but with over 400 clinics nation-wide, Plunket was well placed to provide childhood immunisations. "We are tapping into their already existing infrastructure and trust in communities right across the country. "It is the only Well Child provider with this size and reach, which enables the flexibility required to work collaboratively with Health NZ to assess and adapt services to where they're needed." There would be regular monitoring of progress, which would give a better idea of uptake as more sites were established. "Given Whānau Āwhina Plunket's existing infrastructure and trust in communities right across Aotearoa, we do expect to see more infants and children able to access immunisations through their Whānau Āwhina Plunket nurse. The focus will be on those who aren't enrolled and/or accessing immunisations through primary care." The Immunisation Taskforce recommended increasing the vaccinator workforce and enabling Well Child Tamariki Ora providers to vaccinate , so Plunket's proposal "aligned" with that, he said. In fact, Plunket was one of the few Well Child Tamariki Ora providers, which was not already funded to do immunisations. File photo. Immunisation Advisory Centre medical director Dr Nikki Turner said it made "good sense" for Well Child providers like Plunket to offer immunisations. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Immunisation Advisory Centre medical director, Dr Nikki Turner, said it made "good sense" for Well Child providers like Plunket to offer immunisations, as successive reports had recommended over the years. "The problem is these things take a long time to set up, to embed, to change and they do take a lot of money. "So I absolutely support this initiative and we should continue. "On the other side, we absolutely need to support the existing services alongside that." In December 2023, the government also committed $50m over two years for Hauora Māori providers to help lift immunisation rates. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
BBC News
22-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Councillors agree £11m funding for Exceat Bridge replacement
Councillors have agreed to commit additional funding to plans to replace a bridge in East a meeting earlier, East Sussex County Council cabinet members agreed to "redirect" more than £11m towards plans to replace Exceat Bridge.A two-way bridge will replace the current single-lane structure, which forms part of the A259 between Seaford and proposals saw opposition from some councillors, who argued the project was proving to be too expensive and should be dropped altogether, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The funding decision comes a little more than a month after the project was set to be discontinued due to rising members had previously considered plans to construct a like-for-like replacement of the existing Councillor Nick Bennett, Conservative cabinet member for resources and climate change, said: "If we build a single-lane bridge now, in 20 years time people will think that we've missed a great opportunity to build something far more substantial that supports the infrastructure for a long time."The additional funding for the project is to be taken from money tied to the council's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).There are expected to be disruption to other projects within the BSIP because of the reallocation, councillors were Party councillor Johnny Denis said: "[Traffic in Newhaven] is the biggest pinch point of all; for everybody, for the maximum number of users."That ought to be the priority, not this white elephant, or should we call it a red herring in terms of traffic solutions on the A259."
Hindustan Times
21-04-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Lessons from arid Kutch: Global warming a threat to evergreen forests
Tropical rainforests, considered the lungs of the Earth for their capacity to work as major carbon cleansers, are under threat. A recent study by scientists at Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) has indicated the possibilities of ecological changes due to global warming. They have studied around 40-million-year old sedimentary rock layers of the Kutch Basin to find how the warming during Middle Eocene Climate Optimum (MECO) led to disturbances in tropical/evergreen rainforests which they say once existed in the region. Poonam Verma, a scientist involved in the research, said that the Kutch Basin resembles a book, with layers revealing information about different biota from various time periods. 'Approximately 40 million years ago, during the MECO era, the Earth underwent a warming phase where global temperatures were projected to be three to six degrees Celsius higher than they are today and carbon concentration 2.5 times higher. During this period of extreme warming, the tropical rainforest was impacted due to probable fluctuations in rainfall seasonality. We found an increase of evergreen-deciduous taxa during the peak warming period in the pre-existing tropical evergreen forest. However, due to rapid regeneration capacity, the tropical evergreen forest recovered gradually with the return of previous conditions,' said Verma. 'We also found that the mangroves present in the region were also disrupted during the warming. This indicates that if global warming continues at the existing rate, it can disrupt mangroves in other parts of the world and be a threat to the coastal ecosystems and communities. At the same time, warming can disrupt the hydrological cycle, which may change the composition of tropical rainforests, diminishing the green canopy which significantly reduces carbon from the atmosphere,' Verma added. She said that the depletion of rainforests can also lead to an increase in temperatures further. 'We have already entered the global warming period where temperatures have risen approximately one degree Celsius above the global mean temperatures. Hence, there is a need for intervention at all levels to reduce the effects of global warming. Gaining insight into past climate responses enables us to better predict and plan the mitigation strategies for the impacts of modern-day global warming,' she added. Director BSIP, MG Thakkar, who was also part of the research, said that there have been certain episodes in the past like the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) about 56 million years back and MECO about 40 million years back that can give lessons for the current warming period. 'During the PETM episode, the carbon dioxide had increased to such an extent that sea water turned highly acidic in nature. It was also the case during MECO but to a much-reduced extent. Anthropologic activities are adding carbon dioxide emissions and degrading a rich source of oxygen, like tropical rainforests. The research is an analogue and alarm for the future doom, and it is a red signal for reducing carbon emissions,' Thakkar said.
