THE FUTURE of bus services in West Yorkshire will be decided on Thursday, with a new franchising model likely to be brought in to try and turn around the decline in local services.
And a new report says three quarters of the region’s population support the public takeover.
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin will soon decide between two options for improving the region’s flagging services.
One option would see services franchised – essentially taken under public control.
The other would see transport bosses work closer with the existing bus operators to try and improve services, and arrangement called Enhanced Partnership +.
On Thursday members of West Yorkshire Combined Authority will hear that a recent consultation into the options found that the majority of the West Yorkshire public were in favour of the franchising option.
A report on the consultation says that this option will give more powers to retain and extend bus routes, but is the more financially risky of the two options.
It reveals 1,167 people took part in the consultation.
A petition by Better Buses for West Yorkshire calling for public control was signed by 12,182 people, and an email campaign by group “WeOwnIt” led to 2,677 people emailing the Combined Authority.
According to the report, three quarters of the people who responded to the consultation said they supported franchising, while a further one in ten said they supported it “in part.”
Dozens of organisations were also asked their thoughts on the proposals, and the report added: “Responses from organisations tended to be more muted towards the introduction of the Proposed Franchising Scheme compared to members of the public.”
Two thirds of organisations said they supported franchising.
Among those questioning the plans were several local bus operators, who argued the partnership plus approach should instead be taken.
The consultation results say: “Several operators stated that the enhanced partnership plus could achieve objectives more quickly than franchising with less financial risk to the Combined Authority.
“Arriva stated that all of the objectives could be delivered under the EP+ without the additional costs that the proposed franchising scheme brings.”
But it adds: “Unions and several passenger groups also highlighted views on the EP+ potentially failing to enhance bus services, which questions whether this option could waste funding and create further disillusionment with bus services.
“Unite stated that they ‘have no confidence in an enhanced partnership plus proposal’ and noted that operators had been seeking support for this option.”
At Thursday’s meeting, the Authority will be asked to consider the consultation response and make suggestions as to what decision over franchising Ms Brabin should take.
The report to the authority explains the need for change, saying: “The declining patronage and bus network mileage show that the way buses are run now, where private bus operators have primary control over routes, frequencies, fares and standards of our region’s buses, is failing to deliver our ambitions for better buses in West Yorkshire and needs to change in order to meet the needs of bus customers and achieve our targets set out in our Bus Service Improvement Plan.”
Referring to the option that would see bus companies dictate future services, the report adds: “This would have less risk for the Combined Authority compared to Franchising but is ultimately still dependent on being able to agree its delivery with local bus operators – reducing the level of certainty and control for the Combined Authority.
“Letters of commitment received alongside operator proposals provide confidence in support of interventions from those operators, however further work would be required with them to agree the detailed specifics of what could be achieved under this model for the benefit of local passengers, and there remains a risk that not all of the benefits assumed would actually be delivered and maintained.
“Buses in West Yorkshire face many challenges which justify significant action to overcome, including the currently predicted long-term decline in use and shrinking network, which is judged an unacceptable outcome by many. Franchising provides the greatest levels of control and direct influence to respond to this, above and beyond the Enhanced Partnership Plus, and is therefore the preferred option to achieve the change needed.”
The meeting takes place in Wellington House, Leeds at 10am on Thursday.
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