Transport bosses in the West Midlands have welcomed a promise by the Secretary of State Douglas Alexander to change the way buses are run in major cities.
“This is what we have been lobbying for for some time and it shows that people in high places have been listening to our argument,” says Cllr Gary Clarke, chairman of West Midlands transport body Centro-PTA.
In his major speech to the Labour Party Conference Douglas Alexander set out the need to radically change the way people travel in the years ahead. He said that there would be an increasing need to tackle carbon emissions from transport and that road pricing would have to be brought in.
He also gave a long-awaited commitment to give regional bodies like Centro-PTA ‘real powers’ over local bus networks. The Government must ensure buses were run to the benefit of all communities, he said.
“The ‘free for all’ for buses outside London has not delivered the quality services that passengers want,” says Cllr Clarke. “Certainly as our cities become more congested and we look to providing better and more integrated transport networks, the evidence clearly shows that the current structure of the bus industry cannot deliver the necessary improvements.”
Centro-PTA has argued the need to work in partnership with private sector bus operators and local highway authorities, but in a new framework of controlled competition.
“We have to make sure that passengers come first and that public transport networks provide for both social need and economic growth,” says Cllr Clarke. “It’s all about getting people to jobs, hospitals, shops and leisure opportunities – and we need to offer sustainable travel choices that minimise the impact on congestion and the environment.”
Cllr Clarke paid tribute to colleagues in Manchester who had also worked hard on the issue of bus regulation. “We may be forced to compete for funding sometimes, but there are many more occasions where our common interests are more important and we can lobby together on behalf of the major cities outside London,” he said.
Centro-PTA’s partner transport authorities from the other metropolitan areas also welcomed the Secretary of State’s speech.
Roy Wicks, from South Yorkshire and current chair of the Passenger Transport Executives Group, said they looked forward to working with Government on a fresh start for bus services in the major city regions. “We are confident that with the right regulatory framework we can work with the private sector to bring about the better bus services that passengers deserve”, he said.
The Centro-PTA team is also at the Labour Party Conference to lobby for a greater say in the future of the West Midlands rail network and press the case for the region to benefit from the new Transport Innovation Fund.
They are anticipating a Government White Paper later in the year which is expected to address whether regions should be given a greater say over their transport networks.
