Barriers drop to free up bus operators

31 May 2007

County councils and bus operators have both welcomed the removal of barriers to voluntary and statutory bus partnerships, and their extension to include fares and frequencies.
But local authorities warned that service improvements were likely to be limited, unless there was sufficient funding available, a question the Draft Local Transport Bill did not answer.
The Local Government Association welcomed the strengthening of voluntary partnership agreements to allow councils to specify minimum frequencies and maximum fares. It was also pleased a revised competition test would allow multilateral agreements with two or more operators.
Lee White, special transport projects officer at Warwickshire County Council, agreed, stressing that voluntary partnerships were the most realistic option in a county area. ‘The problem is that if the council improves the infrastructure for one operator with, say, a new bus station, it would have to leave the existing facilities for those operators not entering into the partnership,’ said White. Voluntary partnerships on some routes in Warwickshire had succeeded in achieving their – ‘admittedly relatively-limited’ – aims, he added. But they had come unstuck where there was ‘an outbreak of competition’ on a route, forcing an operator to review its commitment to maintain broad service levels.
‘It would be useful to have agreements with more than one operator,’ said White. But he was concerned there was still no word on the future of bus subsidies. ‘If we’re to improve services, we obviously need funding to do that.’
Confederation of Passenger Transport chief executive, Simon Posner, also ‘broadly welcomed’ the Draft Local Transport Bill, particularly ‘the Government’s recognition that effective partnerships are the key to better bus services’. Operators ‘look forward to achieving this aim through both strengthened voluntary and statutory quality partnerships’. But Posner questioned the proposal to make quality contracts easier, stressing that ‘experience has shown that a partnership approach is the better way to serve passengers’.

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