Operating conditions for coach and bus operators are worsening all the time, with numerous factors impacting on the traffic landscape. A solution is needed soon, argues Paul Lynch, Confederation of Passenger Transport President and Stagecoach London MD Paul Lynch
Have operating conditions – congestion, traffic speeds, roadworks, network capacity – got worse for coach and bus operators over the last few years?
In a highly unscientific exercise, I asked my Stagecoach colleagues in each of our operating companies this question. They all said yes.
OK, you probably expected that. But crikey: Not one part of England, Scotland or Wales served by the country’s biggest bus company – rural or urban, remote or central, franchised or not – has stayed the same or got better.
In London, my very long-serving Head of Service Performance, who has seen it all over the years, says it is the worst he has ever known.
A more comprehensive piece of work by Keith McNally of the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) showed the same. Keith made national media with an example of a street in Plymouth that has been dug up 25 times in a year, and I am sure we all have our own similar examples.
The biggest factor, by far, is roadworks and street works as infrastructure is built or replaced – Paul Lynch
So why this deterioration? There are lots of factors. Reduced speed limits, increased traffic, reduced road space and network resilience – but the biggest reason, by far, is roadworks and street works as infrastructure is built or replaced.
CPT’s contribution above is an excellent summary of the numerous problems caused for operators by these ever-increasing street works by utility companies and others, along with the impact on customers and ideas to help.
In a nutshell, the number and nature of street works has increased and worsened, especially those declared as ‘emergencies’, while the planning and notification of them, adherence to agreed plans, and coordination with other concurrent and nearby works have all deteriorated.
It is as if all the lessons we have learned about notice, coordination and access for buses over the years have been forgotten. For many transport and local authorities denuded by cuts, that is certainly the case.
There are efforts to protect buses from all this, and radical things have been tried in the past – the Congestion Charge and red routes for example – but matters continue to worsen.
There are too many conflicting demands on road space, and too many players with responsibility. In the capital, it is Transport for London, the Department for Transport, the Boroughs, the Greater London Authority, the Mayor, and more.
Do we need a ‘guiding mind’ to bring it all together, to decide the priorities and make them happen? I believe that there are tools to help us with the volume and timing of traffic levels, and the control and impact of street works.
I have written before about my belief that the time for road user charging has come for a government facing urgent priorities on replacing road tax and fuel tax and delivering net-zero.
Technology can now enable this in a sophisticated way that is progressive and less likely to be viewed as anti-motorist.
Then there are lane rental schemes that local authorities are perhaps finally catching onto as a means of both dealing with the problem of street works while also raising revenue – and there is much more that government could do to enhance such powers and measures.
Now that they will get the blame for problems, the leaders of areas where buses are franchised will be under pressure to deliver improvements – which have been promised as a benefit of that regulation.
If they do not, then the point made by critics about a change of control not making any difference to this key priority for customers will be proved correct.
Given all the foregoing, it is an interesting time for the Senior Traffic Commissioner to propose a review of bus punctuality standards. I will write about that in a future column.
