Focus was on investment, green growth and a long-term strategy for the industry at this year’s UK Bus Summit.
Buses Minister Baroness Vere opened the gathering with an announcement of the expressions of interest for the current tranche of investment into improvement of bus services. They total £170m.
Last September the government promised £220m as part of the Spending Round for 2020-21 to form ‘a better deal for bus users’, alongside a long-term funding settlement and bus strategy.
From that £220m funding package, Baroness Vere confirmed that local authorities (LAs) will benefit from £30m to improve current services and restore lost ones. This sits on top of £43m already granted from the Bus Service Operators’ Grant. 20% of this funding has been set aside for top-up in rural authorities.
Pilot funding will be funneled into low-fare, high frequency ‘superbus’ networks. Cornwall is undergoing a four-year trial and other areas within England will soon be able to take advantage.
LAs have also been called upon to invest £20m into demand responsive bus pilots in rural and suburban areas.
Statements of intent are required before LAs receive funding from the allocated £30m. Allocations will be assessed to inform the development of the National Bus Strategy for England and the long-term funding settlement.
£50m has also been set aside to encourage development of Britain’s first all-electric bus town or city.
Also included will be bus priority measures on all new road investments to improve reliability, £2m for audio visual information on all local bus services, improvement of passenger information at bus stops and multi-operator ticketing with lower fares and contactless payments for passenger convenience.
But the funding relies on partnership between government, LAs and operators, according to the Minister. The Bus Services Act gives a framework for partnerships to work and for LAs and operators to take advantage of them. Where they have done, results can be seen, she points out. Bristol and York are examples of how passenger numbers can be boosted and standards set through customer charters, respectively.
“It is a time for new beginnings,” says Baroness Vere. “Time for new investment to drive the improvements we want to see and what customers deserve.”
The government has since pledged a further £5bn for improvements to bus and cycling services in England over the next five years.
Tackling congestion at the UK Bus Summit
A prevalent topic at the UK Bus Summit was congestion. The Transforming Cities Fund is already helping, the Minister says, with £2.5bn “paying for new electric buses in Leicester, priority lanes in Southampton and live departure boards in Portsmouth.”
Go-Ahead Group CEO David Brown was one calling for a long-term strategy at last year’s Summit and acknowledges the role of bus in tackling congestion. He points to five routes operated by Go North East which have required £500,000 in additional funding to maintain the same frequencies, and the X90 service between Oxford and London, which became unsustainable owing to a 50% increase in journey times.
“Congestion affects all the other issues being covered today,” he says.
He points out that congestion charging has not been replicated anywhere since its introduction in London in 2003, and that for all the consultation into franchising in Manchester, there has been little to no acknowledgement of the need to tackle congestion – the main factor in driving modal shift.
“The bus strategy is not about more legislation or more money,” he adds. “Any strategy that doesn’t include tackling congestion will fail to deliver an increase in passenger numbers.”
Echoing that sentiment is Confederation for Passenger Transport Chief Executive Graham Vidler. He too acknowledges that congestion makes buses less sustainable.
CPT has set out its own strategy to make every new bus from 2025 ultra-low- or zero-emission; to reduce CO2 emissions by half a million tons per year; simpler, price-capped ticketing with better value; and a national approach to discounted travel for jobseekers and apprentices.
But for all that to work, the Bus Strategy must get to grips with congestion. “If it does,” says Mr Vidler, “2020 won’t be the year of the bus. The 2020s will be the decade of the bus.”
The road to net zero
With electric vehicles (EVs) also a major topic, Commercial Director of Optare Robert Drewery spells out the case for bus in achieving net zero.
If battery-electric is to be the future, EV buses must be fit for purpose, he explains, with range having a massive effect on the cost of operation.
However, net zero is being looked at from an operational point of view, and while assurances were given that batteries would not be disposed of irresponsibly, the embedded impact of battery manufacture is not included in that target.
Managing Director of Nottingham City Transport Mark Fowles criticised battery-electric in that regard.
“By excluding battery manufacture from the zero emissions element, we are exporting the problem, and somewhere else pays the price,” he says. “We need to deal with the totality of it. This is not a local problem. It’s one that affects the entire planet.”
But there remained widespread acknowledgement that UK bus is leading the way on the road to net zero. There are challenges ahead. But with a Prime Minister who “gets buses”, according to Baroness Vere, and a new government ready to invest money, she believes 2020 will herald a new “golden age” for the industry.
routeone comment
Announcements at the 2020 UK Bus Summit will be music to the ears of many operators. Promises of real investment and evidence of how passenger numbers can be boosted and services improved through long-term funding are essential.
But as exciting as the next decade will be, with the advent of open data, simpler ticketing and cleaner vehicles, there are challenges that still need to be overcome. Chiefly, partnership working is essential. There are many housing developments still not being served by buses. Cars remain an attractive and rational choice for many communities.
Modal shift is the key, as many speakers have said. People must be able to and want to use buses to make them sustainable. That is the foundation on which all the other improvements will be built.
