The West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris has dismissed claims an £8m scheme offering free bus travel to people in the region during the month of their birthday is a “gimmick”.
Residents are now able to apply for passes to get free journeys on most buses throughout the wider Bristol region, as part of the newly launched initiative. The ‘birthday bus’ incentive is aiming to encourage more passengers to swap cars for buses, as part of wider efforts to cut pollution and the economic impact of traffic congestion - which WECA estimates costs the region £300m every year.
Opposition political parties on councils in Bristol and South Gloucestershire previously criticised Labour mayor Mr Norris’ policy, with some questioning whether the money should instead be invested in recruiting more drivers and keeping withdrawn rural routes open.
Mr Norris told BusinessLive that continuing to subsidise services would not create “a sustainable future for the bus industry”, and warned there could be “no buses at all” unless a new approach was taken to encourage more people to use them.
Mr Norris said: “We have got to try things that are new and innovative, and, in a sense, an experiment. We don’t know how it’s going to work out, but we do need to do that. Because if we carry on with the same system, where we have seen bus routes cut or withdrawn over, not just the last year, which has been particularly challenging because of the pandemic, but over the past 10 or more years nationally, we can see that there will be no buses at all.
“I think everyone would agree that it would be a complete disaster. So what we are trying to do is get people using buses and make sure the money that they are spending on the buses is re-invested on more buses so that perhaps we can deal with some of those routes that don’t currently exist.”
Mr Norris said the authority has looked at similar, shorter free transport schemes run across the world, and he was “confident” many people would make the permanent switch from cars or buses for getting around or commuting for work after a month of free travel.
“Behaviour change is key. We’re not concerned about inventing something new, we’re not into gimmicks. I just want the good ideas to be implemented here", Mr Norris said.
He added: “In London, especially centrally, you no more think of driving a car than flying, because you know the buses are good, or you get on the tube. That’s what we need in our region. We need to change that attitude. And it won’t change because we tell people, or we say ‘we must think of the planet’ - it will be because we make it easy for them to do the right thing. And I can’t think of anything easier than having free transport on a bus for a month.”
Like this story? Why not sign up to get the latest South West business news straight to your inbox.
