Pressure mounts on West of England mayor to consider new bus franchising deal

Pressure is mounting on the West of England metro mayor to consider a new bus franchising deal amid growing problems with local bus services.

A bus franchising deal would see greater public control over bus services in the region, similar to in London. Next week Bristol City Council will vote on a motion urging Dan Norris, the mayor of the West of England, to commission a study on adopting a system of franchising buses.

This could see the West of England decide bus routes, timetables and fares — following Greater Manchester’s plans to introduce bus franchising and potentially leading to more reliable services.

First Bus is the major bus operator in Bristol, and last month made a shock announcement cancelling many services across the city due to a gaping lack of drivers to fill 200 vacancies in the region. Under franchising, the West of England combined authority would have much greater control, setting contracts for services which private operators would have to bid for.

Responding to increasing calls for franchising, Norris said the model is “on the table” but could still suffer problems with a shortage of bus drivers.

Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Brown, who put forward the motion to be debated on December 13, said: “Bristol’s buses are failing, and all the solutions that have been tried to date have failed — fundamentally, the operators hold all the cards. This has been repeatedly demonstrated this year with services being reduced right across the city.

“As things stand, the West of England combined authority has been powerless to ensure that the service is comprehensive, frequent, and reliable, the key factors to ensuring people choose buses over cars for journeys in the city.

“Introducing a bus franchising model — as Andy Burnham is doing in Manchester — would allow the West of England to take back public control of buses, creating a service that prioritises the public good over private profits.”

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees also urged Norris to hold talks on setting up a bus franchising model, during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, December 6.

Rees said: “The service we’re getting at the moment in Bristol and beyond is simply not good enough and unfortunately seems to show no sign of getting any better. It seems clear the crisis on our buses at this time is not going away. Austerity and deregulation has led to a critical underfunding of our bus transport system.

“The pandemic financial support given to save the bus operators should not have been given out without the government asking for a share of ownership of those companies. We shouldn’t have given out free financial support. That could have been a pathway taking us back to more public ownership, which I believe is the best model of ownership for a public good like transport.

“But that ship has sailed. The next best thing we can do is to plot a route at our level to an alternative model of bus management. One of those options will be franchising. We need the West of England mayor to meet with myself, First Bus and other local authority leaders so we can work together to clearly set out the standard of bus services we need. This is an issue of critical importance to the people of Bristol and the greater Bristol region.”

Councillor Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green party, criticised Labour’s response to Bristol’s bus crisis as “passing the buck”. She repeated her calls, first made in 2019, for the West of England combined authority to look into bus franchising, in a statement made last week.

Councillor Denyer said: “Labour’s response to thousands of bus journeys being cut appears to be hand-wringing and inaction. All our representatives should have been planning for every eventuality. Instead, they’ve been passing the buck back and forth.

Environmental campaigners Extinction Rebellion are also calling for free bus travel within the West of England for people under the age of 25 – photo: XR Youth

“Green councillors in Bristol and Bath have been lobbying the West of England mayor for years about cuts to bus services. We’re clear that public buses should be under public control: run in the public interest, not for the benefit of shareholders. Placing buses under greater public control will end the blame game between Labour’s politicians and private companies.”

Responding to the calls for changes to buses, metro mayor Dan Norris said franchising was “on the table but not quick a fix”. He added under franchising, the region would still face a shortage of bus drivers, and Manchester is facing similar issues.

Norris said: “Creating a thriving bus network that residents can be proud of — one that is high quality, affordable and, importantly, reliable — is something I always strive for. It is also essential if we are to reach our very ambitious net-zero-by-2030 targets. Franchising is on the table, and remains under ongoing review. But it’s certainly not a quick fix.

“The biggest issue we face in the West of England currently is a bus driver shortage. That would be exactly the same challenge whatever system was in place to run the buses. In fact, Manchester are grappling with exactly the same problem on drivers.

“Working with all bus companies, I’m gripping these issues. I’ve launched a big bus driver recruitment campaign to get more and more bus drivers trained up to help fix the cancellations and delays for good, so locals get a bus service they need, and deserve.”

Elsewhere, bus franchising is one of the main demands of environmental campaigners Extinction Rebellion Youth Bristol, who have twice recently hijacked buses headed to Bristol Airport.

They are also calling for free bus travel within the West of England for people under the age of 25, students and apprentices. Karin Smyth, Labour MP for South Bristol, has also backed calls to introduce bus franchising.

Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Airport flyer bus blockade by XR youth activists
• First Bus branded a ‘cancer’ by furious passengers
• Axed bus services branded ‘the collapse of Bristol’s public transport system’
• ‘When I take the First Bus gamble, I tend to lose’

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