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The UK government is laying down a legislation for local authorities in England, empowering them to take control of bus services. This move aims to help deliver what Transport Secretary Louise Haigh calls a “bus revolution” that will save vital routes. The legislation will enable all authorities to introduce a franchising system that will allow them to decide routes, timetables and fares, with operators bidding to run services for a fixed fee. However, some people in the industry have raised concerns over minimum service level guarantees as routes and timetables have faced cuts in recent years.
Buses are the most commonly used form of public transport in Great Britain, but their services have been in decline for years, and the pandemic has only exacerbated the situation by hitting passenger numbers and profits hard. According to the Department of Transport, the number of local bus passenger journeys in England has fallen by almost a fifth, going down to 3.4 billion in the year ending March 2023, compared to 4.1 billion in the 12 months before the pandemic.
Previously, most bus services outside London were run and delivered through publicly owned companies, often run by councils, until deregulation and privatization took place in the 1980s. Currently, there are only a few areas in England where the local bus company is still owned by the council, and currently, only areas with metro mayors can introduce “franchising” to private companies.
The proposed legislation aims to resolve the failed deregulation of local buses and empower local leaders to provide services that cater to passengers’ needs finally. There have been mixed reactions to the move: Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Helen Whately said that Labour’s plans were “unfunded,” and the government needed to explain whether local authorities would raise tax or cut services to fund the proposal. Adam Hug, a Labour councillor and transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, welcomed the move, but he warned that the changes are not going to be an “overnight fix” for the bus network
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