(Rother Valley) (Con):
Since my election, I have heard loud and clear the repeated calls
for change to the dismal transport network in our region, both
from my constituents in Rother Valley and residents across South
Yorkshire. So pressing is the issue that I raised the sorry state
of our buses at my first ever attendance at Prime Minister’s
questions. I set up the Rother Valley Transport Task Force to
work with constituents on improving our local transport
facilities and have heavily canvassed local opinion. I have held
many meetings with local bus executives and organised residents’
meetings with the managing director of First
Bus so that my constituents can pose questions
directly to the decision makers at the operators. My engagement
with constituents has informed my views on what residents want
and why Transport for South Yorkshire is so necessary...
...I will first address the state of our bus network, and how
Transport for South Yorkshire will transform bus travel. The
creation of this body provides the opportunity for huge
investment in our buses, with the benefits overseen by local
residents rather than private company shareholders pocketing
large revenues with little investment in return—as we currently
see. Transport for South Yorkshire will ensure the integration of
the bus network across the county, and will feed into the Bus
Back Better national bus strategy. The proposals that I have
mentioned have been supported by the managing director
of First
Bus who, in a public meeting, noted that bus
franchising based on the Greater Manchester model is good for
business, good for operators and ultimately good for the
public...
(Sheffield South East) (Lab):
Franchising can help, and taking buses back into public control
was clearly supported by the people we consulted as part of the
bus review. However, it does not, of itself, improve the service.
It can do a little bit, in moving the resources around into a
more efficient and effective way—by moving some buses from
oversubscribed routes to routes that do not exist at all, in some
cases, because they have been removed completely. However, in the
end, with companies such as First
Bus in Sheffield, which loses money, there is no
way to manoeuvre the routes to get better services from companies
that are losing money without putting extra money in...
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