Alastair Mackie, Associate, Public Transport at Stantec responds to the Government’s Bus Back Strategy for England

Alastair Mackie, Associate, Public Transport, provides comment on the Government’s national bus strategy for England.

The much-anticipated National Bus Strategy was finally released this week and while it continues the Government’s passion for three-word slogans, it is also a radical departure from established Conservative Party policy on buses.  The shortcomings of Deregulation are addressed, in particular by turbo-charging the hitherto largely disregarded Bus Services Act 2017; now, local transport authorities and bus operators will be required to work together in Enhanced Partnerships to design networks, agree ticketing and deliver greater integration.  There are also some overdue common-sense measures: a common route numbering system in each area, interavailability of tickets between operators, consistent route patterns across the week and fixed dates for timetable changes.

By placing local transport authorities as the lead partners, Bus Back Better provides more of the public accountability sought by politicians and campaigners but it also tackles the bus industry’s greatest bugbear – and direct cause of much passenger loss – congestion.  There must be ‘significant increases in bus priority’ and ‘ambitious bus priority schemes’ coupled with a duty on highway authorities to promote bus reliability as an integral part of their network management role.  And there are more wins for public sector advocates: the DfT now ‘supports the use of franchising’ and will review the ban on local authorities setting up new bus companies. 

For operators, there is undoubtedly a shift in the balance of power with local transport authorities, but the generally welcoming tone of the major groups’ press releases suggests this is an acceptable trade-off for post-Covid financial stability.  Operators will also have access to the oft-announced £3 billion funds for 4,000 zero-emission buses.

There’s much to be done in a short timescale and some uncertainties to face: how long will it take for demand to return and will there be sufficient funding for as long as needed?  How will the core funding and reformed Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) be distributed?  How will the partnership parties gel in different locations and how will disputes be resolved? 

So will Bus Back Better give us the bus networks we want to see?  Few would deny that the intentions of DfT are laudable, if sometimes a curious mix of the aspirational and the pernickety.  But how realistic is the ambition to grow bus demand beyond pre-Covid levels before funding runs out?  Much hangs on the unknowable answer to that question.

Stantec’s public transport team is ready to assist local transport authorities in the development of their Enhanced Partnerships and Bus Service Improvement Partnerships, in network planning and bus priority infrastructure design. 

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