Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is a further body to criticise mainstream media claims that originate with the Labour Party around heavy cuts to bus route numbers in England since 2010.
Reports on 8 August in titles such as The Independent, the Birmingham Mail and others claimed that the West Midlands was hardest hit. Labour says that 68% of routes in that region have disappeared over the timeframe in question. TfWM has branded such work as “not an accurate assessment” of the network in its area and says that the current operated mileage is “around 91%” of what it was in 2017/18.
TfWM follows the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) in questioning the claims made by Labour. CPT Chief Executive Graham Vidler said on 9 August that a more accurate approach is via comparing operated mileage. Such a metric has reduced by around 19% rather than claims of route number reductions of around 50%, Mr Vidler says.
The public body and CPT also each believe that consolidation of services with little or no loss of coverage has played a part in reduction in the number of bus routes operated. “Comparing the number of services to previous years also fails to consider ongoing improvements and a simplification of the network for passengers,” TfWM says.
It cites work in Aldridge as an example of that. There, two separate service run by different operators have been replaced by one route “with new journey opportunities between Walsall and Lichfield.”
TfWM continues: “The TfWM network has the highest percentage for network mileage protected of any large urban conurbation outside London. This significant benefit to passengers is despite an extremely challenging environment for the bus industry, which faces falling passenger numbers and rising fuel and operating costs.
“The Traffic Commissioner figures quoted in these articles relate to the wider West Midlands, which also includes the surrounding shire authorities of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. It is no secret that the UK’s rural areas have been hit hardest by reductions in bus services provision, and this has significantly worsened since COVID-19.”
Labour claims that over 50% of bus routes in England have been lost since 2010 and that more will follow. Its bus policy centres on greater local control of services, with what it described in April as a “a presumption in favour of franchising” at the heart of those plans.
