Buses in Bristol are in ‘a mess’ and a ‘shambles’ and should be brought back under local authority control, the South Bristol MP Karin Smyth has said.
The MP has called on West of England metro mayor Dan Norris to start to use the powers he has available to take back control of the public transport system in the Bristol area, and run the buses under a franchise system. Mrs Smyth said she had been deluged with letters from constituents across South Bristol complaining about the state of the bus services, both before and after First announced it was cutting 1,450 timetabled bus journeys a week across the city.
It said the move was to make the timetable a more realistic match to the reality at the depots, where First is experiencing a shortage of 150 drivers. In a letter to all the constituents who had written to her about the state of the buses, the Labour MP said: “Buses in our city are in a mess.”
Read next: First Bus just cancelled 1,450 Bristol bus services a week until at least April
“It is incredibly frustrating that there was an improving public transport success story leading up to the start of the pandemic, with council investment in infrastructure and First Bus investing in cleaner vehicles. It was far from perfect, but in the year to March 2019, more than 42.8 million local bus journeys were taken, up from 27.5 million in 2013,” she added.
“However, a combination of the pandemic, a chronic shortage of drivers and a very poor regulatory environment has led us very quickly to the current shambles,” she said. Mrs Smyth then called for a franchise system to be attempted by her fellow Labour metro mayor Dan Norris - something he has so far resisted. “It remains my position that the West of England Mayor should use the powers available to him, bringing decisions about routes, service levels and fares back under local democratic control,” she said, adding that this wouldn’t be easy, and citing the challenges faced by Manchester’s metro mayor Andy Burnham, who is trying to do that.
“This would reverse the deregulation of the 1980s. The process for doing so is cumbersome and time-consuming, it was March 2021 when the Mayor of Greater Manchester announced he was bringing local buses there under local control, however this will not be completed until 2025,” Mrs Smyth added.
“In the short term, the West of England Mayor has recently announced new money to support buses from April 2023, including a franchise to run new services from Hartcliffe. I am awaiting full details of other measures in the package and how they might impact Bristol South. Be assured,” she told constituents, “I will continue to press those responsible on this issue.”
Mrs Smyth’s support for a franchise system makes her the first MP in the city to make that call this year, and comes as a new campaign builds calling for control of public transport in the city to be brought back under local authority control. First Bus has always cautioned against franchising, and Metro Mayor Dan Norris has so far resisted the ongoing calls to embark on that change.
The new campaign calling for the buses to be franchised will officially launch on Wednesday December, 14 at demonstration held on Kingswood high street outside the civic centre. People are encouraged to gather at 6.15pm and wear hi vis and glow paint, according to the Facebook event. Campaigners have also penned an open letter to WECA, calling for it "to suspend the deregulated bus market and provide a franchised bus service under contract".
In response to the imminent launch of that campaign, a spokesperson for First West of England said: “In early October we implemented service changes designed to balance customer demand with available resource to deliver reliable services for our customers. The changes were a result of changing post-pandemic demand which has seen passenger numbers fall by around 25 per cent compared to pre-Covid figures. The effects of this have been further impacted by driver shortages, which are being felt by the rest of the industry but are particularly acute in our region.
“The very last thing any transport operator wants to do is reduce or cut services. We recognise the impact such changes have had on some of our communities, such as Winterbourne and those previously served by service 5, and we are truly sorry for those who have been affected.
“At the time we made the changes our data showed that passengers did not use these services in sufficient numbers and were unlikely to return in the future. Along with the significant driver shortages, this meant we simply had no choice but to withdraw or reduce such services and ensure we focused on running buses where there were enough customers travelling.
“We continue to work with local authorities and partners to adapt services in a way that remains sustainable for the longer term, whilst seeking to provide customers with the reliability that meets their needs. The West of England Combined Authority has responsibility for determining where tendered services can fill gaps in the network where there is a social need, subject to the ability of operators to recruit sufficient drivers to run them."
Read next:
- Villagers living just eight miles from Bristol 'isolated' if First Bus service axed
- WECA mayor calls urgent bus cuts meetings for residents to have their say
- First Bus boss says sorry for 'unacceptable' cancellations
- Campaign calling for bus franchise in West of England to launch
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