Passengers in Bristol and the wider region are “losing patience” as bus reforms have been pushed back until next year. After many months of mounting public pressure, the region’s leading politicians have decided to wait until at least next year before deciding how to reform the buses.
Buses in Bristol have recently gone from bad to worse, with unreliable services, axed routes, and passengers left stranded in cut-off parts of the city. But two options are now on the table for fixing the bus network and bringing public transport back under public control.
The West of England Combined Authority committee decided to wait until the government tables a new law, on Friday, September 20, before pushing ahead with potential reforms. However, campaigners, passengers and politicians now warn the public’s “patience is being exhausted”.
Green Councillor Tony Dyer, leader of Bristol City Council, said: “Improving the buses is a key priority for residents across the region. We look forward to seeing the details of the government’s Better Buses Bill, hopefully in early 2025.
“I hope we can be in a good position at that stage to explore options including bus franchising. We need to look at providing a timeline of actions that will actually happen. We are starting to exhaust the patience of residents of Bristol and the rest of the West of England.”
The two options being explored are bus franchising and municipal ownership. Franchising would see much greater democratic control over routes, fares and standards, while companies such as First Bus and Stagecoach would continue to operate services. Municipal ownership would see a new publicly owned bus company set up, although this is currently banned by the government.
Campaigners criticised the long wait for a new sparse report on bus reforms, and questioned why the combined authority has only just published it now. Other combined authorities elsewhere in England have already taken real steps to franchise their bus networks, with metro mayors in regions there deciding to press ahead much earlier, instead of dithering for years.
Anna Mounteney, from Reclaim Our Buses, said: “Instead of a decisive plan, we’ve been handed an eight-page document that offers little more than a budget proposal. After years of delays and wasted public money, we were expecting a comprehensive report aimed at driving real change.
“Now we’re expected to wait again until 2025 for the prospect of tangible reform. This is just unacceptable.
“Had a transport levy been introduced four years ago, we would have made significant progress by now. But instead funds have been diverted into short-term election-driven schemes, quick fixes like Westlink, publicity stunts like the birthday bus pass, and the use of public money for self-promotion images on buses — that don’t solve the structural issues at hand.
“These initiatives might grab headlines, but they don’t deliver lasting change. The paper should have marked significant progress towards bus franchising, but it only brings further uncertainty and delays.”
Dan Norris, the Labour metro mayor of the West of England, said the general election held in July delayed progress, due to the new government’s planned changes to the law on buses. The Better Buses Bill will likely give local authorities the powers to franchise buses, which are currently only granted to combined authorities.
The bill will also likely scrap a ban on setting up new publicly owned bus companies, which exist in a few places such as Cardiff, Reading and Nottingham. Municipal ownership is another option suggested in the new eight-page report, which the West of England will explore.
But the bill will not be tabled until early next year, meaning the combined authority wants to wait until then to make any firm decision on reforming the buses. In May, voters will elect the next metro mayor of the West of England, and it’s unclear if Mr Norris will stand for re-election. This means any actual decision on bus reform could likely be taken by whoever the next mayor is.
Mr Norris said: “Of course we want to move quickly. We’ve had a general election, and we’ve known that there are likely to be a lot of significant changes, and indeed those changes are still being worked out. I do have a duty to make sure that our resources are used wisely and well.
“To do work, knowing that probably nine-tenths of it will have to be modified, is a bit of a problem. We don’t have as much capacity as we would like.
“We are different from other regions. The reasons we have the challenges we have is because we’re not the same as them. It’s never fast enough for me, I’m a very impatient person when it comes to delivery for the public. Manchester getting to where they are has taken a hell of a long time. We’ve only been around as an organisation for seven years.
“I’d like to go further and see state control of transport, because I think it’s a social service. I think that franchising doesn’t go far enough. But I have to live in the real world, I have to make decisions and work within the rules, and I’m afraid it does take time. I share your frustration about how long it’s taking.”
The mayor also defended his birthday bus scheme, which saw millions of pounds spent on providing bus passes for West of England residents providing free travel during the month of their birthday. However, the combined authority’s own survey data shows that fewer than half of pass users say they would now be more likely to continue using buses after their month ends.
The main aim of the scheme was to drive behaviour change and get people in the habit of catching the bus. Seventeen per cent of survey respondents said they would be much more likely to use the bus after the scheme, and 27 per cent would be somewhat more likely. Mr Norris said: “Birthday buses are proving to be a phenomenal success.”