Would the local bus service be better if run by B&NES?
Well the council thinks so and so does our Bath MP Wera Hobhouse who has asked the government to support the local authority in franchising local bus services.
The Bath MP said that the government’s increase of the bus fare cap on 1st January 2025 compounded issues for residents in the city who were already putting up with unreliable services and poor provision.
Despite First Bus’ announcement that the majority of people in Bath and the West of England will pay less than the government’s £3 fare cap, Wera Hobhouse has heard from many residents who are concerned about the impact of the fare increase. She said that B&NES Council’s plans to franchise bus services would help to improve the situation for people in Bath, making services more reliable and affordable, and she criticised the WECA Mayor, Dan Norris MP who she said was standing in their way.
Mrs Hobhouse has sought advice from the Transport Secretary on what B&NES Council should do to improve services in the face of the problem. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, advised B&NES Council to work with the WECA Mayor to resolve the dispute and emphasised the importance of collaboration to boost the frequency and quality of local bus services.
She noted that last November, the former Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, had joined her in encouraging all mayoral colleagues, which included Dan Norris, to take forward franchising.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, said:
“People in Bath already have to deal with unreliable buses and patchy provision every day. The government’s decision to raise the fare cap will only put even more people off taking the bus.
“That’s why I firmly support B&NES in their efforts to improve bus services for our community. Franchising should mean we have a quicker, cheaper and more reliable service in our city, making it easier for those who want to travel more sustainably to do so.
“I hope that the WECA Mayor takes note of the mounting pressure from the government to take forward franchising and stops standing in the way of B&NES’ plans.”
Liberal Democrat bus campaigner, Councillor Fiona Gourley, added:
“Lib Dems in Bath and North East Somerset have been fighting hard for fairer fares and have called on the WECA Mayor to use some of the £13.5m bus funding he recently received to keep bus fares at £2 for all residents. Sadly, the current Mayor has declined and decided to extend his free Birthday Bus scheme, which disproportionately benefits residents in urban areas, instead.
“In negotiations with the local authorities, including B&NES, First Bus have agreed to limit fare increases to around £2.40. It will cost more for longer distances including rural areas, some of which no longer have regular buses and are only served by Westlink, the demand responsive service implemented by the WECA Mayor 2 years ago.
With a West of England Mayor election in May, she continued:
“This is not good enough and we can only hope that the next Mayor will be willing to press ahead with franchising. We believe this is the only way to truly address the structural problems in the bus transport sector, by bringing fares, routes and timetables under public control.”
OF COURSE all public transport should be organised and financed by the state!
I am writing this from a village in Luxembourg, a titchy country in the middle of Europe, where ALL public transport, buses and trains, (and trams in Luxembourg City) are clean, run frequently, are ALWAYS on time , and are free for all to use – including tourists.
I dare say the Luxembourgers pay for this via their taxes, but have yet to find anyone who has any objections.
The Luxembourgers probably don’t pay so much because the country is a tax haven.
Local authority control over buses works well in Reading. Here it might bring improvements to some services – it’s ridiculous that the no. 19 is sometimes timetabled to take nearly two hours to travel the few miles from Bath to north Bristol, which makes it impossible to use for commuting between those places. Until a few years ago it only took an hour to make that journey, now pauses are built into the timetable.