2
Transport Activists'
Roundtable
North West
For the attention
of Dr. John Patterson, Clerk of the Committee
Transport Committee,
House of Commons,
London, SW1P 3JA.
Wednesday, May 24th,
2006
Dear Chairman and members,
HoC TRANSPORT COMMITTEE
INQUIRY INTO BUS SERVICES ACROSS THE UK
The regional Transport
Activists Roundtables, as explained on the Transport 2000 website
(www.transport2000.org.uk),
were set up (in the late 1990s) to respond to the regional transport
agenda and provide a voice for sustainable transport at that level.
Established with pump-priming funding from the Countryside Agency
and the blessing of regional government offices, these are umbrella
bodies whose members include representatives from a range of environmental
and sustainable transport organisations. They are co-ordinated
by Transport 2000.
For most years since
the introduction of Local Transport Plans (LTPs), the North West
Transport Activists Roundtable (NW TAR) has carried out an analysis
of its region's LTPs and Annual Progress Reports (APRs) in order
to provide Govern-ment Office for the North West (GONW) and the
Department for Transport (DfT) with the benefit of an informed
grass roots perspective not only of what the plans say but what
it is like to be on the receiving end of the consultations carried
out by the region's highway authorities. The contributors to this
exercise take part vol-untarily and bring to it a wide range of
knowledge and expertise. This submission to the bus services
inquiry draws on these analyses and on personal experience.
SUMMARY
- Stability is a
major factor in prompting and retaining bus patronage.
- There are still
too few good examples of seamless links between modes.
- There is a strong
argument for more - not less - regulation in the bus
- industry in order
to offer and sustain a high quality service.
- Competition for
passengers can compromise road safety and passenger
- Consideration is
needed for bus routes which cross Quality Bus Corridors.
- Initiatives intended
to help deprived communities can result in higher
- Focusing on a few
bus routes can disadvantage other routes.
- The cost of using
buses has continued to rise & there are no family deals.
- Costing bus journeys
in advance can be complicated; it needs to be easier
- The training and
treatment of bus drivers must be a much higher priority.
- More safe pedestrian
crossing points are needed near to bus stops.
- Consideration should
be given to rolling out PTEs throughout the UK.
continued …
Questions posed by
the Transport Committee in relation to Bus Services Across the
UK:
Has deregulation
worked? Are services better, more frequent, meeting passenger
need? Are bus services sufficiently co-ordinated with other forms
of public
transport; are buses clean, safe, efficient? If not can deregulation
be made to work? How?
Deregulation happened
at a very low point in bus usage. It is now difficult outside
London experience to judge what might have happened if all the
work done in a deregulated environment around bus strategies,
integration, social inclusion, accessibility and travel plans
had been followed through in a regulated environment.
In the early years
following deregulation there was a serious problem in keeping
up to date with providing accurate information as operators so
frequently changed service operations. Some measure of agreement
around service changes has now occurred but this early period
probably deterred many people considering modal shift from car
to bus and also disadvantaged those communities more reliant on
bus services as levels of service changed for the worse. Stability
is a major factor in promoting and retaining patronage.
The central elements
to a good bus service are:
- A comprehensive
network, so using more than one bus per journey is practical.
- Good reliability
and reasonable frequency levels.
- Accessible, comfortable
and clean vehicles in which people feel safe.
- Accessibility to
areas of social exclusion, as peripheral estates and villages.
- Up to date/ preferably
real-time and comprehensive information.
- Straightforward
ticketing arrangements with costs within means of those on low
incomes.
None of these are easy
in a deregulated environment. Much valuable time and resource
is involved in setting up quality partnerships. Such time, finance
and staff resources would be better used in developing the network,
monitoring and improving performance. A really efficient system
needs adequate inspection. Passengers' complaints are unlikely
to reveal sufficiently in depth where service is poor.
Regarding co-ordination
with other forms of public transport. Really good examples of
seamless links between buses and other modes of public transport
are still too few and far between but an outstanding one has been
the 'Carnforth Connect' project whereby buses leaving for rural
areas from Carnforth Railway Station in North Lancashire will
delay leaving if it is known that inbound trains are a running
just a few minutes late. However, as with so many examples of
good initiatives, this project has been struggling to sustain
its initial level of funding.
Is statutory
regulation compromising the provision of high quality bus services?
More regulation is
required not less.
Some innovation of
a positive kind has taken place. There is no reason to suppose
however that this kind of innovation could not take place within
a regulated framework. As NW TAR commented in the last LTP analysis,
there are examples of good practice in responding to passenger
needs after careful analysis.
New services for which
there is clear demand either from passengers or in order to promote
more sustainable transport from an environmental perspective often
need both very proactive promotion and a reasonable time to become
'mainstream'. Co-ordinating this is more likely with more regulation.
Competition still in
some areas compromises road safety and passenger comfort as drivers
compete for passengers. In town and city centres there is often
inadequate parking up space. At bus stops, trying to get ahead
can mean an unwillingness to align with the kerb to assist passengers
with problems with mobility.
Are priority
measures having a beneficial effect? What is best practice?
Much good experience
exists in Greater Manchester of priority measures. Being 'stuck'
in congestion certainly detracts from reliability. Even short
stretches of bus lane can make a difference. The 'whole journey'
approach to QBCs means pedestrian facilities can be improved at
the same time. Adequate consultation does however take time.
One or two routes have revealed the importance of considering
the impact on bus routes that cross QBCs.
continued …
3
Is financing
and funding for local community services sufficient and targeted
in the right way?
One of the worst effects
of bus deregulation was the loss of services to some of the poorest
communities. Commercial operators quickly prioritised popular
routes and did not use profits to subsidise less or non-profitable
routes. This meant communities often highly dependent on buses
lost services, particularly at evenings and weekends, and were
least likely to be served by low floor buses. All sorts of initiatives
have been tried to improve the situation but most involve some
kind of additional payment by the users. Clearly this leads to
an escalation of costs to those users already disadvantaged by
low income.
Why are there
no Quality contracts?
This may not be the
main reason from the perspective of authorities but from that
of users it is difficult to see what would be gained without a
whole network approach. Focussing on just a small part of the
network or even on one route only can end up disadvantaging other
parts of the network or routes. Many actual and potential journeys
involve more than one bus so cost and network links are as important
as improvement on just one section of the journey.
What is the future
of the bus?
Some areas of the NW
have shown that it is possible to increase bus patronage by small
changes targeting very specific user needs. In the analysis of
the 2005 LTP Annual Progress Reports by the NW TAR Blackpool's
steady growth in bus patronage was thought to be linked to one
such small initiative of introducing night buses.
The role of the bus
is vital if all the concerns around environmental sustainability
issues are to be addressed with regard to transport. Much valuable
work has also been done on bus strategies by some authorities.
Much of this could now be implemented more easily within a regulated
environment, especially as profitable services could cross subsidise
socially significant but less profitable routes. Driver and vehicle
use could be made more efficient. On some routes at present with
several operators it would be possible to rationalise the numbers
of buses using a route. An immediate example would be Oxford
Rd in Manchester. This would in many other cases release at least
one vehicle and one driver per hour to improve frequency on another
route.
The factors which could
do most to increase patronage hinge around all the points made
frequently about reliability, frequency, cost, safety and comfort.
Cost factors do need
more attention. Even an individual day bus ticket in Gtr Manchester
is now - unless off peak -£ 4.00. An adult weekly ticket
is £13. 50 and for a young person £10.20. Especially
for low income families, this can constitute a high proportion
of weekly income. Also, there is no way a whole family can travel
cheaply at present. The cumulative cost of several fares disinclines
families who have the option of a car from using the bus.
One of the issues least
addressed is the training and treatment of bus drivers. Despite
various attempts to enhance the status of bus drivers it is still
not as highly regarded as many comparably skilled jobs. Bus drivers
have both to be able to drive in often complex situations regarding
traffic and have excellent customer service skills not expected
by any other public transport mode. A large amount of passenger
satisfaction relates to these two skills of bus drivers and this
is often seriously underestimated.
Work on integration
is ongoing in many areas but lack of it is certainly a disincentive.
There is still insufficient thought to ensuring adequate pedestrian
crossing points near bus stops. Information about journeys has
greatly improved with the advent of Travel Line but this cannot
provide information about bus fares. Such information has to
be sought from individual authorities or companies. This makes
costing journeys quite complex and doing so is important most
for those on low incomes. At present this may also mean finding
out which operator runs a particular service is a problem. It
can vary depending on time of day. Good integration and the related
passenger information are vital for bus patronage to increase.
Finally, people who
live in areas outside of those covered by Passenger Transport
Executives often feel like second class citizens when it comes
to the public transport services offered to them. Consideration
should be given to the establishment of a network of PTEs which
cover the UK. This would undoubtedly assist with the delivery
of more standardised services across the board.
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