As the year winds to a close, Graham Vidler reflects on a busy few weeks for CPT – which include meetings with ministers, a summit with DfT, and the launch of a new report
It has been a busy few weeks for us at the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), which have seen an array of meetings with parliamentarians, a driver summit with the Department for Transport (DfT), and the launch of our new report: Bus and coach: The route to net zero.
Driver Summit
In late November, a special summit was convened by DfT and CPT in London to tackle driver shortages facing the coach and bus industry.
During the event, along with operators and representatives of local authorities and the Scottish and Welsh governments, we stressed the range of initiatives already underway to attract and retain drivers. Discussion focused on what more can be done to tackle chronic shortages, including streamlining the licence application and driver testing process.
We are now working with DfT to agree a prioritised action plan to give the coach and bus sector the tailored assistance it needs. In addition, our Thank You Driver campaign to attract more coach and bus drivers into the sector will continue into the new year. We’ve recently been on location filming in Manchester and Hertfordshire for the social media aspect of the campaign and we look forward to sharing the results.
Parliamentarian visits
As always, we’ve been working hard to ensure the issues that matter most to our coach and bus operator members are firmly on the political agenda.
In the past few weeks, we’ve met with Buses and Roads Minister Richard Holden MP and Shadow Transport Minister Simon Lightwood MP to raise awareness of the key issues which face the sector.
We emphasised the importance of the long-term funding investment the sector requires, as well as the need to build on local authority plans to deliver the National Bus Strategy. We also highlighted driver shortages, concessionary reimbursement, and cost inflation; issues which continue to put pressure on all operators.
The route to net zero
Finally, it was great to see the launch of our latest report produced with WPI Economics, which confirms that if the UK doesn’t switch some car journeys to coach and bus, net zero CO2 targets won’t be met.
The deadline can only be achieved if there is long-term investment in the funding of services and infrastructure, so that coach and bus travel can become people’s preferred transport of choice.
UK decision makers should not park bus policy packages, but see them as fair and achievable measures to slash carbon, generate new tax revenue, create more jobs and make people healthier.
With all of this going on, the festive season has crept up on me this year. It is, though, time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy New Year from all of us at CPT.
