Shadow Transport Minister and Labour (Co-op) MP for Wakefield Simon Lightwood (pictured) focused on Labour’s ambition to roll out franchising in his keynote address to the CPT Annual Conference on 31 March, promising that the party would put the bus industry “back under public control”.
All local areas would be given the opportunity to pursue franchising under a Labour government, which would also reverse the ban on forming new municipal companies.
“We’ll hand power and control to the communities that rely on bus services,” he says. “We will offer all local areas the chance to franchise bus services – they will have the power to plan the network, set the routes and the fare structure. We believe in giving communities more say over the services they depend on, and this will help all of us who care about the long-term viability of the bus industry succeed.”
Describing the current model under the Conservative leadership as “broken”, he criticised the incumbent government for having “overpromised, underfunded and underdelivered” on bus, referencing the loss of 7,000 bus routes in England. “The Labour party believes that our services need reform so that they work for the people and communities that will ride them,” he adds.
However, Mr Lightwood has said he is optimistic about successes seen in the industry and has been “encouraged by the work going on between operators and local government”.
He references ambitious plans such as integrated ticketing and bold targets for decarbonisation, and in particular the work by the West Yorkshire Bus Alliance on its recruitment campaign to attract more drivers to the workforce.
“Partnerships like this between councils, combined authorities and bus operators are an important first step with this kind of future, and the future that we want to see in our sector,” he explains. “Fewer barriers, more cooperation, and greater accountability.”
He describes Mayor Andy Burnham’s decision to move to franchising in Greater Manchester as “a clear vision of a world class integrated transport network which can unlock opportunity for all.” He also referenced how devolved powers and funding has brought down fares in many areas of the country. Franchising, he says, will give more certainty to operators and get bus services “back on track”.
Mr Lightwood further criticised a lack of certainty from recent short-term funding settlements and an underwhelming delivery of the government’s ambition for 4,000 zero-emission buses. He highlighted Labour’s plans to invest £2bn to part-finance eight Gigafactories by 2040, which he says could “turbocharge the manufacturing of electric vehicles here in the UK.”
