Earlier this month the Department for Transport published a consultation on its draft regulations and guidance associated with the Bus Services Bill (routeONE, News, 15 February).
It runs to 151 pages so I hope I can be forgiven for not reading the entire document word for word. There is a strong chance I wouldn’t understand a good deal of it. And, that’s rather the point because, from what I did read, it became very clear that the Bill is a complicated beast.
Not in terms of the broad principles of what the Bill is trying to achieve – that’s pretty straightforward – but how the provisions of the Bill are actually implemented.
By way of example, you only have to read some of the material on the service permits provisions of the legislation and how these might be implemented to start to realise that this Bill is, in my view, introducing a layer of complexity in the provisions of local bus services that doesn’t exist today.
Service permits can be used to enable operators to run services that cross the boundary of a franchise scheme area, and also to enable operators to provide services that compliment a franchised network.
Perhaps a better example is the operator objection mechanism for enhanced partnerships and how individual operators can or should be able to object.
Forget the merits of all of this for one second. What I’m saying is that it becomes clear from reading the consultation paper that there is a lot more complexity behind the Bill than meets the eye. So I have to ask: is it really all worth it?
I know a case can be made for some of the Advanced and Enhanced Partnership provisions. But when you start to appreciate the level of complexity that lies behind the face of the Bill it’s legitimate to ask the question: do the benefits really justify all of this?
Let’s remind ourselves, just in case anybody is in danger of forgetting, that the genesis for this Bill was simply to acquiesce in the political aspirations of one Combined Authority – Greater Manchester.
And if Greater Manchester decides not to go down the franchising route after all, well then we have a situation where, to my current understanding, no authority wants to go down the franchising route.
Putting aside Greater Manchester for one moment I have a hunch that most authorities, including combined authorities, will decide that the status quo in policy terms is rather appealing.
I know we can’t turn the clock back. Moaning doesn’t help anybody, even if it makes me feel better.
But when you think about the costs involved in all of this, the time and effort taken to get here, then reflect on what benefits the Bill will actually deliver to passengers, I think a bit of moaning is legitimate, don’t you?
