Bristol transport boss: Private companies running buses is ‘teaching pigs to dance’

Private companies running buses is like “teaching pigs to dance” according to a Bristol City Council transport boss.

Ahead of major cuts to bus services next month, council chiefs were pressed on how they are urging bus companies to keep routes running in the poorest parts of the city. Prominent transport campaigner David Redgewell said companies were focusing on routes in richer areas.

Councillor Don Alexander, cabinet member for transport, said there was a “danger” that commercially run buses would naturally focus on running routes in the most profitable parts of the wider Bristol region.

He also called for a look at changing how local buses are run. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, September 6, Redgewell said: “The concern is that we have a number of services which aren’t profitable. What are we doing to make sure that [bus companies] Stagecoach and First Group don’t purely concentrate their efforts — as they seem to be doing at the moment — on the most profitable bits of the network?

“At the moment the accountability may not be there for the delivery of service levels and where they’re putting their public resources. Maybe we should nationalise the buses. How do we get them to maintain the buses into the poorer parts of the city region, which may in fact be left without bus services from October?”

Marvin Rees has blamed Bristol’s transport issues on a lack of funding, as well as a shortage of drivers – photo: Martin Booth

At the end of last month, West of England mayor Dan Norris revealed the 18 bus services in the Bristol region which will likely be cut from next month. The West of England combined authority is responsible for strategic transport, rather than Bristol City Council.

Norris has blamed the service cuts on a shortage of drivers; but more funding is due to come next April.

In the cabinet meeting, councillor Alexander said: “I agree with you that we do need services to prioritise those areas, but it’s not exactly built into the system to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people. A commercial system doesn’t naturally do that, so there’s a danger that it’s a bit like teaching a pig to dance. I would welcome the West of England mayor [Dan Norris] looking at the overall governance structure.”

As well as a shortage of drivers, one issue preventing Bristol from having democratic control of its bus network is a lack of funding, according to Bristol mayor Marvin Rees. While cities like Manchester and London are making major changes to their bus networks, bringing them under greater public ownership, those cities receive much more transport funding, he added.

Rees said: “We agree with transport being a public good, ideally publicly owned and run. But always remember that there’s no substitute for money. The governance model is one thing, but changing the governance model without additional resources could bring its own risks. That’s one of the challenges we’ve been grappling with.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• ‘More than 10 bus services to stop as Bristol community transport ceases operations’
• ‘The bid to make Bristol a zero emission transport city’
• ‘Underground network in Bristol could be ‘transformational’ for Bristol’

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