Category: Community

The future of Scotland’s bus services hangs in the balance as a vital consultation on the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 closes this week.

Transport Scotland is about to implement new bus legislation, which is supposed to give local authorities the right to choose between bus partnerships, franchising and municipal ownership.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a world class bus network, capable of meeting climate change targets and fixing chronic social inequalities. But Transport Scotland has already thrown a huge obstacle in its path with the ‘Bus Partnership Fund’, which makes forming a deregulated ‘bus partnership’ a condition of access to £500 million bus infrastructure funding.

This is a brazen attempt to revive the failed policy of bus deregulation, and a clear imitation of England’s National Bus Strategy, which is also coercing local authorities into signing up to an accelerated ‘bus partnership’ program despite the overwhelming economic case for public control and ownership instead.

There are just two days left until the consultation closes and there is something you can do to help, wherever you are in the UK. Please take a few seconds to respond through the Scottish TUC’s email action here.

We expected better from Scotland

On the surface, the Scottish government seems to have a more enlightened view of public transport than England. In March this year, they acted decisively to bring their railway into public ownership, stating the need for integrated, stable and secure services; especially in the post-covid context. Scotland has repeatedly gone further in equality legislation too, for example by implementing the socio-economic duty of the Equality Act (the Fairer Scotland Duty).

At first glance, their bus legislation also seems to be superior, offering the choice for local authorities to run their own municipal bus companies (still banned in England).  But these powers were inserted at the last minute due to the relentless campaigning of Get Glasgow Moving, who achieved cross-party support for this amendment, despite the resistance of the Scottish government. Take a closer look and you’ll see that it’s a near-identical copy of England’s Bus Services Act (2017). This legislation has already been proven to be inadequate to the task, and has been widely condemned by organisations such as Centre for Cities, the CPRE, the Transport Select Committee and the National Audit Office.

The new powers for municipal ownership have so far been completely neglected, while Scotland’s bus franchising process is actually even more dysfunctional than England. While the Bus Services Act (2017) improved the democratic process by giving the final say to elected mayors, Scotland intends to repeat the process used for ‘Advanced Quality Partnerships’, which relies on an arbitrary and unelected panel instead. It’s the exact approach behind Tyne and Wear’s notorious failed attempt to franchise their buses in 2015 – which means Scotland will now be relying on an outdated, wasteful and undemocratic process that even England has long since rejected. Meanwhile, Transport Scotland’s ‘Bus Partnership Fund’ has been pressuring local authorities to sign up to deregulated ‘bus partnerships’ since long before the consultation even began, reflecting the coercive approach of England’s ‘National Bus Strategy’.

However, there is still time for Scotland to get off England’s track and carve their own path for bus services – now their only hope of achieving their social, economic and climate goals.

Our message to Transport Scotland

Public control as the default position

With the £500 million ‘Bus Partnership Fund’, the Scottish government has effectively committed to continued bus deregulation as their default position, with no possible economic case behind it. Their stance completely rules out the possibility of cross-subsidy; as well as the integration and growth of Scotland’s bus networks. In an era where bus deregulation has been shown universally to have failed, the only acceptable defaults for such vast sums of public spending are public control and ownership. These are the only models through which local authorities will be able to meet the National Transport Strategy’s four strategic goals: reducing inequality, taking climate action, delivering inclusive economic growth, and improving health and wellbeing.

Grasp economic opportunities

Public ownership is the only model that is able to actually generate wealth for communities, therefore providing the strongest possible incentive and return on all future bus funding. A 2016 report by Transport for Quality of Life estimated that this would bring back over £500 million per year to the British taxpayer. Scotland already boasts one of the most successful municipal bus companies in the UK – Lothian Buses, which because it survived the process of deregulation is now able to return £6 million to the City of Edinburgh Council per year. Serious, large scale programs of public ownership could bring huge opportunities for bus manufacturing, engineering, digital technology and employment, especially in the context of a ‘Green New Deal’. It’s not just the existing wealth that needs to be captured for local communities – it’s the value of all emerging technologies.

Prioritise equality and human rights

Scotland’s policy on bus partnerships is now the source of international controversy, after being condemned by the former UN Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty, Philip Alston, earlier this year. His report concluded that partnerships are a ‘tried-and-failed’ approach and that continuing with this ‘extreme form of bus privatisation’ will leave Scotland in breach of at least three human rights obligations. Rural and low income populations are among the worst casualties of bus deregulation, yet their needs are being neglected due to a ‘Bus Partnership Fund’ that is almost entirely focused on the urban context and restoring bus companies to profit. As the Equality and Human Rights Commission warned in 2019, local authorities, Regional Transport Authorities and Transport Scotland are failing to embed the Public Sector Equality Duty into their decision-making.

Take climate commitments seriously

Scotland’s National Transport Strategy commits to reduce car use by 20% by 2030. With less than a decade left to achieve this goal, the long-term approach to modal shift should be required to be every local authority’s first consideration. However, the restrictions of ‘bus partnerships’ actively work against this goal in every possible way. Continued deregulation gives local authorities a duty to maintain and grow the deregulated market, preventing them from cross-subsidising, growing and integrating their bus networks. Only through public control and ownership is it possible to explore the policies that have a chance of achieving long-term modal shift; such as guaranteed hourly bus services to every village, free public transport, or even generally reducing fares.

Devolution and Democracy

Though the new legislation offers three options for bus services, local authorities have already been pushed into beginning the bus partnership process. This means they are currently being denied the free and fair choice between these options – an injustice that must urgently be addressed by Transport Scotland in its guidance on the new powers, as well as the Bus Partnership Fund. This entire episode is a standout example of the over-centralisation that has held back and chronically underfunded the seven Regional Transport Partnerships, which should be a key tool in helping to deliver better models of bus services and bringing these decisions into increasing democratic control.

Scotland’s Bus Strategy

It’s time that Scotland’s bus policy was brought into line with the goals of the National Transport Strategy, which commits the Scottish government to prioritising climate and equality in all their transport decisions. Transport Scotland should urgently provide practical and financial support to every local authority who wishes to pursue public control and ownership, restoring them with the choice that has been denied through the ‘Bus Partnership Fund’. Though the Fund’s £500 million capital investment is welcome, its value must be captured and protected for the public benefit, as these investments are worth significantly less within a deregulated system. In judging all bus funding and governance decisions, the limited and outdated idea of a ‘business case’ should be replaced with a ‘public sector value’ test that accurately reflects the huge range of socio-economic and climate benefits delivered by bus services.

Take Action Now

It takes just a few seconds to support the STUC’s email response to the Transport Scotland consultation.

To respond in detail to the consultation, click here.

To view our full-length consultation response, click here.

The consultation closes on Wednesday 6th October.

After the disappointment of last week’s National Bus Strategy, transport campaigners will be delighted to see the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) launch a transformative new vision for buses.

‘Every village, every hour’ presents a complete solution to the rural bus crisis and a sure means of reversing the cuts to 3,000+ bus routes made over the last decade. It’s a fully-costed model of a Swiss-style transport network for England; providing guaranteed hourly services to every village from 6am to midnight, 7 days a week.

A Swiss-style model would be transformative for bus services, also ‘levelling up’ the economy, environment, health and community all over the country. And all of this could be achieved with just £2.7 billion diverted from the annual roads budget.

A universal basic right to transport

Underpinning CPRE’s strategy is the need for transport to be treated as a universal human right, with guaranteed minimum service levels enshrined in law. This should be backed up by permanent, ring-fenced funding that puts transport on an equal footing with health and education.

Thirty years of deregulation combined with austerity has meant a huge decline in the number of ‘socially necessary’ bus routes, with bus companies competing and duplicating services on the profitable routes instead. CPRE recommends further legislation for franchising powers to ensure comprehensive coverage; as well as lifting the ban on new municipal companies, which would allow councils to run services and reinvest profits in the network.

Public transport in the era of climate change

Transport is the UK’s biggest emitting sector, and it’s estimated that decarbonisation will require traffic levels to drop by 20-60% in the next ten years. This will only be possible through radical strategies for public transport.

Examples in Europe show the overwhelming success of cheap and free transport schemes. For example, free transport in Dunkirk has led to a doubling of bus journeys, with half of new users switching from cars. Research shows that real behaviour change only occurs over time, when there is an attractive public transport offer that passengers can trust will be there to support them.

The CPRE report provides full costings of these future visions for transport, which are completely achievable right now:

A bus strategy we can believe in

CPRE’s report brings home the weakness of the government’s plan for rural buses, which received little mention in the National Bus Strategy last week.  The only concrete suggestion was the piloting of more on-demand, Uber-style services; which will do little to increase ridership. By contrast, the Swiss model of comprehensive bus coverage boasts over six times the number of passenger journeys than the English average outside London.

The National Bus Strategy has taken little account of the problem of transport poverty; promising only to expand the definition of socially necessary services, without any clear commitment to strengthen the statutory requirement. This speed of change is vastly insufficient, and it’s long past time that bus services were taken seriously as an essential human right (as recommended by the UN in 2019.)

CPRE and Transport for Quality of Life should be applauded for their bold and transformative vision, which has been published at exactly at the time it’s most needed.

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Grant Shapps finally unveiled the National Bus Strategy this week – and what a disappointment. Its call for action may sound good, but the National Bus Strategy is in fact laying out the red carpet for bus companies, through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with local authorities. After 30 years of failure, it’s shocking to see the government continue with the broken policy of bus deregulation, which will only hold back our progress towards an integrated and affordable transport system.

The National Bus Strategy is not just unambitious, it’s deeply flawed and illogical – here’s why:

1. It’s based on failed legislation.

The Bus Services Act 2017 has preserved a huge imbalance of power between local government and private bus operators, resulting in just one Enhanced Partnership in the last four years. The process of bus franchising is even harder and has so far only been attempted in Greater Manchester – a lengthy and difficult process that Stagecoach is now challenging in court.

As the National Audit Office reported last year, the Bus Services Act has ‘made little difference’. In 2019, an extensive, UK-wide study by the Transport Select Committee concluded that franchising powers should be provided to all local authorities, as well as the option of setting up their own municipal bus company. However, this advice has been ignored, and the new National Bus Strategy will now go forward based on failed legislation.

2. It continues the failed policy of bus deregulation

The National Bus Strategy itself warns of the difficulties of the current legislation, noting that franchising could ‘take years’. Instead it points local authorities clearly in the direction of ‘Enhanced Partnerships’, which maintain the deregulated model and make it more difficult to introduce bus franchising at a later stage.

Enhanced Partnerships are a trade-off. In return for a small say in services, local authorities will give the private companies what they’re really looking for: bus priority measures. This is nothing but a continuation of the deregulated system, promising even bigger streams of profit for bus companies as they benefit from increased road space.

3. It keeps local government under-resourced and in a weak negotiating position

The decimation of local authority funding for bus services has been a major cause of the UK bus crisis; a 40% drop in council funding has led to over 3,000 routes being cut in the last ten years. There’s still no reliable ring-fenced funding to plug the gap, and transport planning departments are weak and under-resourced.

The crisis in rural buses is particularly bad, and bus deregulation in rural areas has even been called out by the UN as being ‘incompatible with human rights requirements’. However, the National Bus Strategy’s weak offer of more on-demand bus services shows little to no vision about fixing this. If a city with the powers and resources of Greater Manchester can’t franchise its buses without a major legal challenge, what chance do smaller local authorities have?

4. It fails taxpayers and local democracy by preventing public ownership

Failed legislation on buses has made the process of franchising difficult enough, despite the fact that it would return an estimated £340 million per year. Public ownership would return even more – an estimated £506 million – yet the Bus Services Act bans councils from setting up their own municipals.

The UK’s few municipally owned bus companies have been incredibly successful. Lothian Buses in Edinburgh returns £6 million in dividends to the city, Reading Buses £3 million and Nottingham City Transport £2 million per year. The National Bus Strategy acknowledges these examples and even says it will consult on the issue. Yet it is still going ahead without this option: depriving local authorities of a huge opportunity for wealth creation, and entrenching the £1.5 billion per decade in dividends currently paid to bus company shareholders.

5. It will fail to reduce fares and restore services

Bus fares have rocketed even faster than rail fares – an increase of 403% since 1987. It’s a huge cause of transport poverty, but the National Bus Strategy will do little to solve it because Enhanced Partnerships are defined by competition law. This means that local authorities will have no power to set fares; and though multi-operator ticketing schemes can be agreed among companies, single-operator tickets must remain competitive.

Enhanced Partnerships also fail to give the local authority any control over fare income, preventing the cross-subsidy so badly needed to restore lost services. Nor is the local authority allowed to lower bus fares through a direct subsidy. Competition and duplication on key routes and with other forms of transport are sure to remain, preventing an integrated transport system.

Let’s be under no illusions – public control is the only way to create a London-style transport system.

What can we do about it?

The race is on for public control. Local transport authorities must commit to a course of action by the end of June 2021, and it’s clear that the DfT expects the majority to opt for Enhanced Partnerships. Campaigners and passengers need to make their voices heard ASAP and push for public control (franchising) in their local area.

The National Bus Strategy includes a few opportunities for more significant change:

• It recognises the strong examples of municipal bus companies and says it will consult on the issue.

• It points out a loophole in the Bus Services Act, whereby councils can create a municipal by purchasing a pre-existing bus company.

• It promises to expand the definition of socially necessary services to include economically necessary services, and says it may consider making these a statutory requirement.

• It commits to reform and devolve the Bus Services Operators Grant.

Local transport authorities must commit to a course of action by the end of June, and publish a local Bus Service Improvement Plan by the end of October 2021, detailing how they propose to use their powers. Actual delivery of the ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ is expected by April 2022.

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