A call for the Government to do more to encourage people to use public transport has been backed by councillors in the West Midlands.
A report by the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee found that a 40 year downward trend in bus usage was continuing almost everywhere outside London. The cross-party group of MPs called for the Department of Transport to take more concerted action to persuade people to get out of their cars and on to buses.
Only in London, where there was much more public subsidy, better services and the introduction of a congestion charge, had there been any significant change. Bus use in the capital had soared by a third in recent years.
"It is far more difficult to turn things around in the unregulated bus market outside the capital,” comments the Public Accounts Committee chairman Edward Leigh MP. “The Department must rely on the actions and commitment of local authorities who, in turn, can't directly influence operators in respect of their commercial routes.”
In the West Midlands, the councillor body Centro-PTA performs a co-ordinating role and uses council tax to subsidise some services, while the vast majority of bus routes are run by commercial operators. In common with most other city-regions, there is also a dominant private company that operates more than 80 per cent of routes.
“We all want to see cleaner, more reliable bus services and, outside London, we are dependent on this being provided by the private sector,” says Centro-PTA chairman Cllr Gary Clarke. “Recently we have had some positive meetings with the new boss at the region’s biggest bus company Travel West Midlands and I think we can look forward to a greater degree of customer focus as well as improved partnership working.”
“We also need the support of local councils which are the highway authorities if we are to deliver better bus priority and enforcement of bus lanes for example. We know that where all these things are done together, as they have been on Showcase routes in the West Midlands, we can make public transport much more attractive,” he says.
“Providing high quality public transport is essential if we are serious about tackling congestion in the West Midlands.”
In its report published today, the committee of MPs argued that bus usage has been in steady decline in England since the 1950s, as a consequence of rising economic prosperity and increased car ownership. But growth in car usage has led to increased congestion and vehicle emissions which contribute to climate change.
In 2000, as part of its ten-year transport strategy, the Government set a target for increasing bus usage which it amended in 2002 and 2004, to increase bus and light rail usage by 12% between 2000 and 2010, whilst at the same time achieving growth in every English region.
Overall growth in bus and light rail usage in England now seems likely to reach the national target level, but this is mainly because of the substantial increase in bus passenger numbers in London since 2000-01. Passenger figures in all other regions have declined, however, and it seems unlikely that the target for growth in every region will be achieved. MPs say the increase in London can be attributed to the commitment of Mayor Ken Livingstone and Transport for London, increased public subsidy, congestion charging and enhanced bus services.
Link: Public Accounts Committee report
