Last chance for a say on bus future
THE public relations battle over who controls West Yorkshire’s buses reaches its climax this weekend as a consultation closes on whether mayor Tracy Brabin should follow Andy Burnham by franchising local services.
Locals have until today to have their say over whether to end the current privatised system and allow fares and routes to be set by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, with Ms Brabin to make a decision in March.
If she backs franchising she’ll follow the example of Greater Manchester – where the system is being extended across the region in 2024 – with other areas like the Liverpool City Region and the North East expected to take the same course.
Campaigners who want to see public control of buses were on Friday due to hand a 12,000-signature petition to the Labour mayor and were today touring a 2.5 metre banner displaying the petition to five local bus stations, backed by a number of MPs and councillors.
Under the current privatised model which has seen passenger numbers slump over recent decades, operators like First Bus decide where and when to run services, with local authorities forced to step in to prop those the private firms deem commercially unviable.
But operators – who admit reforms are needed – have proposed an alternative to franchising, which wouldn’t take effect until 2026 and cost around £100m to implement.
EP+ would see the bus network controlled through a Network Management Group, overseen by Ms Brabin’s mayoral authority but including representatives of the operators, with private firms still ultimately bearing the financial risk rather than the taxpayer.
And this week they unveiled polling they said shows public backing for the idea. In a poll of 1,000 people, 50% said the financial risk of running the region’s buses should remain with private bus operators while 25% said it should rest with the taxpayer and 23% said they didn’t know. Asked who is best placed to run bus services in West Yorkshire, 46% said private operators ‘but with greater scrutiny’ and 33% said the mayor. Andrew Cullen, Managing Director of First Bus in North & West Yorkshire, said on behalf of bus operators in the region: “We agree with the Mayor that bus reform is needed, but strongly believe there is a better alternative to franchising by choosing Enhanced Partnership Plus, an option which is truly unique to the needs of West Yorkshire.”
Oddly the polling by the firm Censuswide came to the opposite conclusion to that carried out by Survation, commissioned by franchising campaign group We Own It a few days earlier, which said 71% of locals backed public control.
Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield, said: “London is thriving partly thanks to its excellent, publicly controlled bus network. Over the Pennines, Labour Mayor Andy Burnham has just taken back control of local buses, providing a significant boost to local communities. Tracy Brabin is right to do the same here.”
But what will the West Yorkshire public make of the frantic lobbying by both sides? We’ll find out on March 14 when Ms Brabin reveals her decision.