What does devolution mean for buses and local transport?

In this blog, our Head of Policy and Campaigns Arlen Pettitt looks at how devolution is changing the landscape of local transport and, in particular, buses.

Buses and potholes, two things everyone has a view on.

But while for potholes the solution is fairly straight-forward (if sometimes a bit slow to happen), the problems of buses - and the broader transport network - can be a bit harder to fix.

It’s emotive as well because whether people are travelling by rail, bus, car, on foot or by bike, everyone interacts with the transport system in their local area.

It can also be a high stakes part of daily life - getting to work, to school, to the supermarket or to that hospital appointment

For local leaders, that makes it one of the policy areas they work hard to improve.

But they try to do that with, historically, a really limited set of tools - infrastructure is incredibly expensive, buses are run by private companies, rail is a national network.

Devolution is slowly changing that.

When Transport for the North (TfN) was set up five years ago, it was tasked with creating Strategic Transport Plan for the North - the second version of that document is currently out for consultation.

TfN was the first statutory sub-national body, meaning its partnership with local government - led by mayoral combined authorities - and the Department for Transport shifted some of the evidence gathering and agenda setting to a more local level.

But, that strategic function has been complemented - or perhaps superseded - by a growing practical transport function.

As is often the case, Greater Manchester is in pole position - their Bee Network plans will see the region co-ordinate its bus, tram and bike provision into a single network.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has appointed bus operators to run locally-controlled bus services, starting in September 2023 - the first region outside of London to have this power over bus services since privatisation.

Burnham has also talked about a desire to roll local rail services into this network - at least where ticketing is concerned - and to look to the example of Germany, where a €49 monthly pass entitles the holder to unlimited, multi-modal travel across local and regional public transport networks.

Liverpool City Region is following swiftly behind, with mayor Steve Rotheram currently consulting on a new bus franchising system - of the style in London and, soon, Manchester - and these powers form part of the new North East devolution deal too, and will be high on the list of priorities when the new mayor is elected in May 2024.

The results of the 2021 Census tell us why public transport is so important - especially in our urban areas.

In Newcastle 36.6% of households have no access to a car or van, in Gateshead it’s 32.4%, Middlesbrough 33.1%, Manchester 39.0%, Liverpool 40.1%.

So, for a really significant proportion of the population, public transport is their only means of transportation.

That means we need to get it right from a purely practical perspective, but there’s also the issues of inclusion and Net Zero.

In both those cases, a substantial and easily accessible public transport network is a necessary part of the solution.

For bus services in particular, the trend is towards the opposite - at the start of 2023, concerns were raised over the potential loss of 20% of services, following a 15% reduction in bus service mileage in 2022.

Fares made up just 42.8% of bus operators revenues last year, with concessionary fares - travel by the elderly and eligible disabled paid for by the local authority - making up 16.6%.

In total, bus operator revenue was £5.4bn in 2022, of which £2.9bn was central or local government support (including concessionary travel), and £2.3bn was from fares.

So, in reality, government - whether locally or in Westminster - has already stepped in to support buses outside of London.

While it’s possible that passenger journeys will continue to recover, and fare revenue with that, the chances of a self-sustaining, commercially viable public transport network seem slim - with that in mind, city-regions (in particular, but not exclusively) are right to look at alternative models to get the network they need for their people, and their economy.

Featured image by Sandy Ravaloniaina on Unsplash