Bus system is ‘falling apart’ says ex-UN man

BUS services in South Yorkshire and other areas of the country have been “scaled back dramatically or made unaffordable” since they were privatised in 1986, former UN Rapporteur Philip Alston has said.

Mr Alston spoke out after he co-authored a 38-page report on the privatisation of UK buses with two directors of New York University’s Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice.

The report stated passengers in many parts of the country have been left with an “expensive, unreliable, fragmented, and dysfunctional bus system that is slowly falling apart”.

It said passengers often have no alternative when operators raise prices or cut routes because “competition has given way to monopolies in many areas”.

It added that passenger numbers have plummeted and fares have “skyrocketed” since bus services were deregulated by Margaret Thatcher’s government because private operators have “prioritised profits and dividends – extracting money from the system – and cut essential routes”.

The report said South Yorkshire “provides a useful case study” and referred to the findings of the independent South Yorkshire Bus Review in 2020, which found passenger numbers had fallen by 23 million and funding had been reduced by 48 per cent over 10 years.

Mr Alston said: “Deregulation has provided a masterclass in how not to run an essential public service, leaving residents at the mercy of private actors who have total discretion over how to run a bus route, or whether to run one at all.

“In case after case, service that was once dependable, convenient and widely used has been scaled back dramatically or made unaffordable.”

The authors of the damning report interviewed 72 bus passengers, former drivers, Government officials, social workers and union leaders.