Labour promises to allow every community to take back control of local bus services

Labour's shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh MP, has today [Thursday 11 April 2024] set out the party's plans for a better bus network across England, with a promise to allow every community across the country to take back control of local bus services.

Labour's plan could create and save up to 1,300 vital bus routes and allow 250 million more passenger journeys per year compared to today's failed system. It will also bring an end to the postcode lottery of bus services by providing safeguards over local networks across the country.

The plan will also see better buses delivered faster, with franchising done in as little as two years. Greater Manchester endured a six-year slog due to unnecessary barriers imposed by central government.

Since buses were deregulated in 1985, bus services in England's regions outside London have collapsed, with:

• 1.5 billion fewer annual bus journeys in 2019 than in 1985
• Almost 300 million fewer miles driven by buses per year since 2010
• Thousands of bus services cut since 2010

Labour's plans will ensure better value for money for the taxpayer, deliver a better service for passengers and give local authorities a choice over the bus system that works best for them. It will require no additional central government spending.

Where bus franchising is in place, in London and Greater Manchester, buses have thrived. Greater Manchester has already improved reliability and significantly grown passenger numbers less than a year after bus franchising went live.

Speaking at a launch event in the West Midlands with Labour's Mayoral candidate, Richard Parker, Louise Haigh is expected to say that, during its first term, a Labour Government will pass new legislation to support local transport authorities to take back control of their bus services and has set out a five-point plan to deliver better buses. Labour will:

1. Empower local transport authorities and reform funding: by giving local leaders more control and flexibility over bus funding and allowing them to plan ahead to deliver their local transport priorities.
2. Allow every community to take back control of their buses: by removing barriers that currently limit bus franchising powers only to metro mayors.
3. Accelerate the bus franchising process: by supporting local leaders to deliver better buses, faster.
4. Step in to safeguard local bus networks: by providing more accountability over bus operators and ensuring standards are raised wherever you live across the country.
5. Support public ownership: by removing the Conservatives' ideological ban on publicly owned bus companies and building on the success of award-winning public bus services still in operation.

Louse Haigh MP, Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary, said:

“Reliable, affordable and regular buses are the difference between opportunity and isolation for millions of people across the country.

“Four decades of disastrous deregulation of Britain's buses has robbed communities of a say over the vital services that they depend on, instead handing power to unaccountable private operators who have slashed services.

“Labour will give every community the power to take back control of their bus services, and will support local leaders to deliver better buses, faster.

“Labour's plans will create and save vital routes and services, end today's postcode lottery of bus services, and kickstart a revival of bus services across England.”

Richard Parker, Labour's candidate for West Midlands Mayor, said:

“Under the Conservatives thousands of vital bus services have disappeared and local communities have been left powerless, with no tools to hold operators to account.

“As Mayor of the West Midlands I will end this broken system and bring our buses back under public control.

“With a Labour Mayor for the West Midlands, and a Labour Government in Westminster, we can work together to deliver better buses, faster.”

Ends

Notes:

A Better Buses Bill:

Labour will pass primary legislation to remove legal barriers currently restricting the ability of local transport authorities to take back control of their bus services.

This legislation and the wider plan will apply to England, as bus services are devolved matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Routes Created and Saved and Passenger Journeys Figures:

Internal Labour modelling suggests that, compared to a do-nothing scenario, Labour's plans could:

• Save up to 700 routes by introducing local network safeguards to prevent profiteering at the expense of services that could lead to cuts of up to 9% by 2030[v]
• Create up to 600 additional bus routes by expanding franchising powers, based on modelling of benefits of franchising from West Yorkshire Combined Authority scaled up to cover England outside London[vi]
• The combined 12% increase to the size of England's bus network (outside London) compared to a do-nothing scenario where services are cut could mean up to 250m extra passenger journeys a year

Labour's Five Point Plan for Better Buses:

1. Empowering local transport authorities and reforming funding

It is widely accepted that the current system of bus funding is not working either for passengers or for those in charge of delivering services.[vii] The current system presents barriers to delivering better transport.

Micromanagement from Whitehall makes it difficult for local transport authorities to access funding streams, funding is not used to drive meaningful improvements to services, and flexibility is not provided to deliver on local transport priorities.

Labour will reform this system and hand back control of decisions around local buses to the communities that rely on them. Over time, Labour will:

1. Reform and combine funding to ensure it can be better utilised to deliver improvements for passengers
2. Devolve bus funding to local transport authorities pursuing bus franchising, so decisions over local networks are made closer to the passenger
3. Deliver multi-year funding settlements for councils as well as integrated multi-year funding settlements for mayors that can show exemplary frameworks for managing public money, so local leaders are able to plan ahead to deliver improvements to their local networks
4. Share transparent data on performance and funding to meet the interests of passengers

Labour will initially prioritise mayors that are actively pursuing franchising of bus services for such devolved funding, with a longer-term aim to provide everywhere in England with more control over bus funding.

1. Allowing every community to take back control of their buses

Labour will allow every community the automatic right to demand and pursue the same standard of bus services seen in London, ending the postcode lottery that currently determines the quality of bus services in England.

This will mean allowing all local transport authorities to have the same automatic rights to access the franchising process as Mayoral Combined Authorities and to bypass existing, unnecessary requirements to negotiate the necessary powers from the Secretary of State for Transport.[viii]

Bus franchising is a model that provides control over routes, fares, frequencies, branding and ticketing to local transport authorities, rather than unaccountable private operators. Bus operators bid for contracts to deliver bus services planned by local transport authorities, instead of deciding for themselves where services go and how they are run.

Although franchising may not be right for every area, it is a key mechanism that local transport authorities should have available to them to start to reverse the failures of deregulation and plan better, integrated transport networks.

Labour's proposals on expanding franchising powers to every local transport authority could deliver a larger network through franchising, creating up to 600 routes across England.

1. Accelerating the bus franchising process

Labour mayors are already doing pioneering work to break down legal and logistical hurdles to franchising, most notably in Greater Manchester, which has made history by introducing new franchised services and reversing decades of deregulation,[ix] but was forced to overcome lengthy and costly barriers to complete the process.[x] [xi]

Labour will accelerate the bus franchising process to ensure that no other local transport authority faces so many barriers and so much bureaucracy in taking back control of their bus services.

Labour's accelerated approach to bus franchising could see it achieved as much as four years quicker than the six-year process in Greater Manchester, and six months earlier than the current process other combined authorities are facing.

Timelines of the franchising process compared*

*Timelines based on analysis from Urban Transport Group^[xii] and unpublished consultation with combined authorities in varying stages of the franchising process.

Labour will remove current barriers holding up bus franchising by:

1. Refocusing the Department for Transport's Bus Directorate to also provide direct support to local transport authorities choosing to franchise services.
2. Reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and bringing assessment requirements for franchising in line with typical requirements for other capital schemes.[xiii]
3. Learning lessons from Greater Manchester's franchising journey, by streamlining future processes and ensuring that templates for business cases, financial models and model contracts are available from day one of the franchising process.
4. Forcing operators to quickly share all necessary data with local transport authorities looking to improve services. Information-sharing requirements will be clearly set out in regulations.[xiv]
5. Allowing local transport authorities to franchise services more flexibly across their networks, by amending Section 123(H) of the Transport Act 2000 to allow easier variation of franchised networks, similarly to how bus networks work in London.
6. Exploring how to support operators and local transport authorities to work together to design better bus networks. This could build on successful models seen elsewhere, such as in Jersey, which has grown ridership by 38% by encouraging operators to suggest improvements to networks.[xv]

1. Stepping in to safeguard local bus networks

The current deregulated bus system has led to thousands of vital services being axed across the country. Bus services are a shadow of what they once were in too many areas, with some communities cut off from the network entirely.

Labour's plans mean strengthening enhanced partnerships, safeguarding local networks and introducing a better minimum standard of bus services wherever you live.

Labour will achieve this by:

1. Introducing a local network safeguard, giving local transport authorities the power to ensure net cuts to bus networks are only made where absolutely necessary. This will place the burden of proof on operators to demonstrate to local transport authorities that services have become financially unviable before they can be cut.
2. Reviewing the objection thresholds to enhanced partnerships, to stop bus operators unreasonably standing in the way of local transport authorities trying to deliver better bus networks.[xvi]
3. Urgently reviewing the performance and delivery of enhanced partnerships, to identify where they can be improved and strengthened to deliver a better minimum standard of bus services, wherever you live.[xvii]

Labour's safeguards to prevent cuts to the existing network, compared to a do-nothing scenario with no policy intervention, could prevent a network reduction of up to 8% by 2030, saving up to 700 routes.

1. Supporting local leaders who opt for public ownership

Bus franchising and stronger enhanced partnerships will not be the preferred choice for all local transport authorities. In some areas of the country local leaders have resisted deregulation and have achieved huge success by running publicly owned, municipal bus companies.

Labour will take a pragmatic approach to public ownership of buses and repeal Section 22 of the Bus Services Act 2017, to allow the creation of new, publicly owned bus companies and give local transport authorities the opportunity to take more direct control of services and assets.

Performance of municipal bus companies

Sources

[i]2005-2023 statistics, Gov.uk, ‘Passenger journeys on local bus services', comparison made with 2019 to reflect the norm pre-pandemic - Tab BUS01a (2023): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65662505312f400013e5d534/bus01.ods

1985-2005 statistics - Gov.uk, ‘Passenger journeys on local bus services', Tab Bus01a_hist (accessed 2024):https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63d781e28fa8f518895a6251/bus01_hist.ods

[ii] Department for Transport, ‘Vehicle miles on local bus services', Tab BUS02b_mi (2023):https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65662505d6ad75000d02fc3e/bus02_mi.ods

[iii] Guardian (August 2023): https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/07/england-has-lost-at-least-1500-bus-routes-since-2021-figures-show

[iv] RouteOne (April 2024): https://www.route-one.net/bus/focus-on-transparency-and-community-benefits-for-gm-franchising-efforts/#:~:text=TfGM%20adds%20that%20patronage%20on,passengers%20being%20carried%20each%20weekday.

[v] Based on internal modelling which compares a do-nothing scenario that assumes planned profit margins by major operators (in excess of the 6% margins required to cover the cost of capital according to unpublished industry consultation responses) will be achieved primarily through cuts to services, given national trends and limited opportunities to achieve growth through patronage growth (given post-pandemic levelling out of patronage growth) and fare rises (given the £2 cap). Local network safeguards would help prevent profiteering leading to unnecessary cuts being made to networks by forcing a burden of proof of service unprofitability on operators.

[vi] Based on a modelled central scenario derived from West Yorkshire Combined Authority modelling which suggests that franchising will improve the overall cost envelope through lower capital costs, reduced duplication and higher patronage from better integration, offset by admin costs. These potential benefits have been scaled up to England (excluding London, which is already franchised) – West Yorkshire Combined Authority, ‘Have your say on how buses are run in West Yorkshire' (January 2024): https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/27645/widgets/79366/documents/51680

[vii] The Government's own Bus Back Better strategy accepted the need for subsidy reform and committed itself to work towards this reform and eventual devolution of bus subsidies, however little progress has been made on this objective since - Gov.uk, ‘Bus Back Better' (2021), P48:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6086912fd3bf7f013c8f4510/DfT-Bus-Back-Better-national-bus-strategy-for-England.pdf

[viii] Urban Transport Group, ‘Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas' (September 2023), P18:https://urbantransportgroup.org/system/files/general-docs/UTG%20Report%20-%20A%20Smoother%20Ride%20FINAL_2.pdf

[ix] Guardian, ‘Greater Manchester jumps onboard the franchise route to better buses' (September 2023): https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/16/greater-manchester-jumps-onboard-the-franchise-route-to-better-buses

[x] GMCA, ‘Statement from Mayor of Greater Manchester on bus franchising Judicial Review Appeal judgment' (July 2022):https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/news/statement-from-the-mayor-of-greater-manchester-on-the-bus-franchising-judicial-review-appeal-judgment/#:~:text=In%20March%202022%2C%20the%20High,aspects%20of%20the%20franchising%20process

[xi] Urban Transport Group, ‘Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas' (September 2023), P16:https://urbantransportgroup.org/system/files/general-docs/UTG%20Report%20-%20A%20Smoother%20Ride%20FINAL_2.pdf

^[xii] Urban Transport Group, ‘Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas‘ (September 2023) P14-15: https://www.urbantransportgroup.org/system/files/general-docs/UTG%20Report%20-%20A%20Smoother%20Ride%20FINAL_2.pdf

[xiii] Urban Transport Group, ‘Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas' (September 2023), P17:https://urbantransportgroup.org/system/files/general-docs/UTG%20Report%20-%20A%20Smoother%20Ride%20FINAL_2.pdf

[xiv] Existing requirements for data sharing from operators have taken a long time to obtain in practice, in Greater Manchester's case a ruling from the Traffic Commissioner was not received for over a year - Urban Transport Group, ‘Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas' (September 2023), P17: https://urbantransportgroup.org/system/files/general-docs/UTG%20Report%20-%20A%20Smoother%20Ride%20FINAL_2.pdf

[xv] Gov.uk, ‘Bus Back Better' (2021), P43: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6086912fd3bf7f013c8f4510/DfT-Bus-Back-Better-national-bus-strategy-for-England.pdf

[xvi] Urban Transport Group, ‘Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas' (September 2023), P10:https://urbantransportgroup.org/system/files/general-docs/UTG%20Report%20-%20A%20Smoother%20Ride%20FINAL_2.pdf

[xvii] Urban Transport Group, ‘Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas' (September 2023), P11:https://urbantransportgroup.org/system/files/general-docs/UTG%20Report%20-%20A%20Smoother%20Ride%20FINAL_2.pdf

[xviii] Gov.uk, ‘Local bus passenger journeys, Tab BUS01b and BUS01f (November 2023):https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65662505312f400013e5d534/bus01.ods

[xix] Gov.uk, ‘Bus reliability and punctuality', Tab BUS09a (November 2023):https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65662505312f40000de5d539/bus09.ods