'They stand and wait, often in the cold and rain. Frustrated and powerless, because their bus – infrequent at the best of times – is, of course, late. Again.'
When this system was put in place, the idea was to spur competition. But there is nothing of the sort. A bus company’s monopoly is almost impossible to break, because of the small number of depots that serve any one place, and any new company will face an uphill battle to establish themselves – they would need to build a whole profitable network from scratch. Our system is almost unique in the developed world. And with good reason - it doesn’t work.
Bus routes have suffered due to the pandemic, but even in the decade before Covid-19, bus mileage outside London was already down 18 per cent. Our bus system makes such little sense that even George Osborne relented, and let metro mayors and Cornwall develop a ‘London-style’ network. In the areas given such powers, the local transport authority draws up a contract which specifies the routes they want companies to run. That means they can plan networks properly.
Bus fares aren’t all syphoned out to shareholders, they are mostly kept within the area to be reinvested or to subsidise less profitable routes. Depots are brought under public control. This regulated, or ‘franchised’ system is far better. This is how it works in London. In Greater Manchester, the mayor, Andy Burnham, has seized this huge opportunity. In September this year, 50 new, electric, bright yellow and black buses will roll onto the streets of Wigan and Bolton, contracted and performance managed by Transport for Greater Manchester.
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