The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) Transport Committee is set to approve commencement of an independent review of how best to deliver bus service franchising in the region at a meeting on 8 July.
If it progresses, the work will represent “an important early step in developing a clear and deliverable plan” to roll out reregulation. Former Labour Mayor Dr Nik Johnson decided in February that franchising would be the avenue of bus service reform, but was succeeded by Conservative candidate Paul Bristow in May’s election.
There is no suggestion that bus franchising in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is to be abandoned. Mr Bristow says it “gives us the power to transform buses so they truly work for passengers and communities.”
However, he adds that the transition “must be affordable and deliverable” and notes how the independent review will test how that can happen, “putting service improvements at its heart while ensuring that it will be financially sustainable for the long-term.”
The review is set to take around three months and report in the autumn. Papers published by CPCA ahead of the 9 July meeting note how officers at the local authority have already worked to set up a programme of franchising implementation and the related governance structure.
They are now working on the scope of the independent review. Its overarching purpose is to assess and propose viable implementation pathways while considering what CPCA terms “new information” relating to precept funding, revenue risk, and rail integration.
Pathway details will capture fleet and depot strategy, network design, and the revenue model. Integration with other modes is said to include both light rail and heavy rail despite none of the former currently existing in Cambridgeshire.
Once the independent review is complete, CPCA officers will continue detailed work on the preferred delivery model. Consultants will conduct the review with an independent chair.
The same CPCA Transport Committee meeting is also recommended to approve ending the local £2.50 bus fare cap from 1 September. Doing so would reduce an “affordability gap” in the £1 Tiger Pass fare scheme for under-25s in FY2025/26. The local adult fare cap increased from £2 on 1 July.
Under the proposal, ÂŁ1.4 million allocated to the adult fare cap will be transferred to an extension of the temporary Tiger Pass to 31 March 2026, albeit with removal of cross-boundary journeys from scope. Beyond that, three options for a permanent Tiger Pass are under consideration.
