Ensuring that bus sits well with other political priorities beyond the general election is at the centre of Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) work for the mode in 2024, Director of Policy and External Affairs Alison Edwards told the ALBUM conference at Carden Park in Cheshire during April.
Integrating the mode with economic growth, levelling up, and climate change “will get politicians to really take notice,” says Ms Edwards. She cautions that a tight fiscal environment post-election means that the industry must focus not on more public funding, but on providing better value for that it already receives.
ALBUM and CPT “are almost always sending a single industry message to the government,” Ms Edwards continues. Those priorities are being shared with politicians and other stakeholders in work that will continue after the election.
Key to that is a call for a five-year industry funding settlement. It will build confidence among operators and local authorities (LAs) and permit investment and new routes. Any such package must capture the south of England as much as it does the north, Ms Edwards adds. CPT also wants adoption of a statutory level of bus provision, and suitable funding for LAs to ensure delivery.
On the £2 bus fare cap in England, CPT has underlined its call for an extension into 2025, although Ms Edwards accepts that “there may be better ways” to use that money. A focus on bus speeds is also part of its core demands, as are further investment to support fleet decarbonisation and assistance with recruitment.
CPT recognises that franchising is seen as an existential threat by some SMEs. It and ALBUM are working to ensure that message is heard by politicians, but Ms Edwards says that reregulation “cannot and will not be rolled out everywhere” immediately after the election.
Instead, she believes that the regulatory landscape will evolve in each location depending on geography, LA capacity, political ambition, and market conditions.
Overall, CPT priorities for bus in the next parliament “are based on a strategy that builds on successful partnership between central government, local government, and the private sector,” she sums up.
“It is a strategy that needs to be delivered whatever form of regulation bus services operate under. It is a strategy that maximises the value for money of public funding by leveraging private sector investment and creating a sustainable, virtuous cycle of growth.”
