Enhanced Partnership remains the favoured approach for bus service delivery in the newly created East Midlands Combined Authority (EMCA) area, Mayor Claire Ward told delegates at the ALBUM conference in Nottingham on 13 May.
That underlines the position on bus services Ms Ward aired ahead of her election in May 2024. She is confident that “we will make [partnership] work.” While the option to pursue franchising is already open to her, she believes that Enhanced Partnership will deliver a regional transport system “that works for us all.”
EMCA is described by Ms Ward as “a collaborative strategic authority.” It is absorbing the bus functions of Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, with a priority of delivering a single network across those areas.
She notes how bus partnerships in each are already mature and highlights how service improvements and zero-emission vehicle rollout are existing fruits of those arrangements.
“We know the challenges, but this is a strong foundation upon which we can build a truly regional network,” Ms Ward continues. “And that is my ambition. To see a regional network that serves people not just in cities, but in towns, communities and villages.”
In contrast to some other Labour elected mayors in England, Ms Ward believes that such an aspiration is “comfortably” served by the partnership model. She notes how each of the four areas that form EMCA have worked hard on passenger experience, which is reflected by good satisfaction ratings in work by Transport Focus.
In notable comments, Ms Ward adds that using “the rhetoric of franchising” to create belief among residents that problems with bus service delivery would be solved by reregulation would not be an appropriate approach to take.
While the option of franchising will remain if Enhanced Partnership does not deliver in the East Midlands, she says that her commentary about making the partnership approach work is not a veiled threat to operators. Instead, “it is a reality.”
Fare simplification is a priority for EMCA, while work on a strategic level should “enable us to join up different types of investment” including in highways, she continues.
On fleet, success has already been seen for EMCA constituent authorities via the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme. The Combined Authority will now deliver a 10-year bus electrification pipeline.
