Lilian Greenwood MP & Daniel Zeichner MP: Buses are vital for our communities – but passengers need reform

Bus services are the lifeblood of our communities – but something has gone fundamentally wrong with the way we provide those services. Labour’s councillors in Tyne and Wear have done the right thing by pushing for reform and they continue to have our full and unequivocal support.

Make no mistake - the Quality Contract Scheme Board’s rejection of regulation is a crushing blow to all those who support public transport reform. The reverberations of the decision will be felt far outside the North East. The Board’s recommendation that local transport authorities pay potentially hundreds of millions in compensation to private operators almost certainly marks the death knell for reform under existing legislation, and it fundamentally calls into question the viability of the Government’s commitment to enabling bus tendering in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, and other areas.

The case for reform is clear and unarguable. In most places outside London bus services are trapped in a spiral of long-term decline. Investment in new buses has been offset by fare rises that have been most keenly felt in metropolitan areas – including Tyne and Wear, where fares have risen by an annual average of 3% above inflation. Labour’s free bus pass has helped to sustain passenger numbers and keep some routes viable, but the number of full fare paying bus users has halved in the region over twenty years.

Across the country timetables are not integrated with other public transport services. Too few buses are fully accessible, and smartcards that can be used on any bus service have proved to be difficult to implement outside of London.

There is a better way. Communities should have the power to plan fares, timetables and investment to reflect local needs. Although some bus operators have strongly resisted moves towards greater co-ordination, these powers are already in use in London and they are the norm in Europe. If it is good enough for London then it is good enough for the North East, and Greater Manchester, and Sheffield City Region, and Cornwall – and any other area that wants them. The alternative, of continuing the status quo of constant decline, is no alternative at all.

Nexus and the Labour leadership of the North East Combined Authority deserve great credit for opening a national debate over the future of our public transport services, and we were glad to visit Tyne and Wear last weekto make Labour’s support for the proposals clear. It proved to be difficult – far too difficult – to reach even this point, but it has now been shown beyond all doubt that the law needs urgent reform.

We welcome the fact that after five years of resisting change the Government has, in principle, been won round. But Ministers did not raise a word of protest two years ago when one bus operator threatened the North East with a scorched earth policy of withdrawn buses and closed depots. Better Bus Areas funding was denied to areas that pursued the regulation of local bus services and, until recently, while the Conservative Government celebrated proposals to co-ordinate bus services in other areas and cities, they could not bring themselves to support those same ambitions in the North East.

With a mixed record in this area, and a concerted lobbying effort on its way, it is vital that Ministers now show consistency and bravery, bring forward their promised Buses Bill at the earliest opportunity, and do not shy away from including radical measures to make bus tendering a viable option for local transport authorities. That is the least that the millions of people who use and rely on bus services every day deserve.

Labour’s councillors have shown great courage and leadership. While their proposals have suffered a disappointing blow, they have already won the case for reform. We are proud to support them.

Lilian Greenwood is Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and Daniel Zeichner is the Shadow Minister for Local Transport