Minister talks up role of buses, as CPT seeks action on journey times
Jim Fairlie: the future of the industry in Scotland is incredibly bright
Scotland’s minister for connectivity offered a strong endorsement of buses ahead of next week’s CPT Scotland Conference in Glasgow.
In an article in Scotland’s Buses 2024, which accompanies this edition of Passenger Transport, Jim Fairlie writes: “We know we’re living in a global climate emergency. We know that here in Scotland transport remains our largest carbon emitting sector – but we know too that we already have the tools to tackle some of our most complex problems. Whether it’s reducing emissions, tackling congestion, challenging transport poverty, improving air quality – the answer is simple. Bus is best!”
Fairlie highlighted the investment that the Scottish Government has made in zero emission buses, support to the bus sector during and after Covid and the introduction of free travel for those aged under the age of 22, and remarked that “the future of the industry here in Scotland is incredibly bright”.
However, the minister made no mention of the £500m Bus Partnership Fund (BPF), which has been paused with only £26.9m awarded to date. When it was launched in in November 2020, the fund was hailed as a “landmark long-term capital investment” for bus priority measures”.
Also writing in Scotland’s Buses 2024, Fiona Doherty, chair of CPT Scotland and managing director of Stagecoach West Scotland, revealed her intention to address the pausing of the BPF when she participates in the upcoming conference’s panel discussion on prioritising partnerships.
Whether it’s reducing emissions, tackling congestion, challenging transport poverty, improving air quality – the answer is simple. Bus is best!
“The BPF’s aim was to improve bus priority infrastructure and promote collaborative work,” writes Doherty. “However, the Fund has been put on hold, and only a minimal portion of the £500m budget has been allocated. Considering this, what are some effective strategies to sustain building valuable partnerships?”
She added: “There is a pressing need to reduce travel times through bus priority infrastructure and address consistency issues to improve the customer experience further. Our customer surveys indicate that journey times and service reliability are among the primary concerns of our passengers. While we strive to address these concerns, infrastructure improvements and complementary policies at both local and national levels are crucial to achieving optimal results. Thus, we urge our government partners to work with us to improve buses and grow usage to see the subsequent benefits in critical areas such as air quality and accessibility.”
Meanwhile, Scotland’s Buses 2024 also contains a strongly-worded article by Ralph Roberts, chair of McGill’s Bus Group, about bus franchising.
Roberts writes: “If the recent Transport Focus passenger survey results are anything to go by, buses in Strathclyde are in good shape. How does this information tally with the claims that “the bus network [in Glasgow] is broken” and that “franchising is the only game in town”? To me, it all sounds rather like electioneering or dodgy ideology… at best. Most sensible people agree that it is a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
There is absolutely no doubt that politicking is at the heart of the current effort to confiscate private bus operators of their years of investment
“There is absolutely no doubt that politicking is at the heart of the current effort to confiscate private bus operators of their years of investment. From local authority meetings where there is an unnatural focus on bus operators rather than bus users and the system as a whole, to prolific politicians such as Andy Burnham or Paul Sweeney, with their one-size-fits-all dogma. If it really is one-size-fits-all then I’m sure that SPT would welcome a doubling of their budget to get to Transport for Greater Manchester levels – and have it back dated for 20 years for good measure!”
Instead of seeking to reform the regulatory regime for buses, Roberts says that politicians should should challenge the “car is king” mindset that has eroded the appeal and viability of local bus services in Scotland.
He writes: “This mindset is fundamental, regardless of the regulatory regime. Franchising would fail if the hitherto lack of investment in roads infrastructure continues … In short, for franchising to work, we need to spend the money needed to sort out the road infrastructure that would have made the status quo so much better than it is today. This fact alone should be causing the architects of the current franchising attempt to pause for thought. Buses have windows and bus users know what the problems are – so who really wants franchising?”
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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The post ‘Bus is best!’ – but no mention of £500m fund first appeared on Passenger Transport.