Westminster Watcher reports in the 17 April issue that he is looking forward to the publication of CPT’s Bus Strategy, and he hopes it will be worth waiting for.
Now I have no more idea of its content than he does, or indeed when it will be published, but I would suggest that he needs to be patient, as the last time I recall the government producing a Bus Strategy was 20 years ago, in 1999.
It was called ‘From Workhorse to Thoroughbred: A better role for bus travel’ and was published by John Prescott’s mega ministry, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. It can be found in the National Archive, and it’s well worth a read.
One might have imagined that given the enormous technological and environmental changes over those 20 years, the Department for Transport (DfT) itself would have by now revisited the subject.
But no, it seems that it is content for Brussels to make the rules and to pass them down to local authorities to implement (e.g. air quality and vehicle emissions). Meanwhile, the DfT appears to keep itself occupied conducting countless rail industry reviews.
What I find more disappointing is Westminster Watcher’s shopping list of additional industry investment that he believes operators should commit to, in order for the Bus Strategy to meet with his approval.
This stance invites the criticism so often levelled at our civil servants that they fail to understand the commercial world in which the private sector operates. With TAS reporting falling bus industry profitability, how does he imagine that we, or our bankers, will sanction more investment for lower returns?
Of course more investment is possible if there is a good prospect of improved returns. And this is where I hope the CPT Bus Strategy will look at a much bigger picture than he envisages.
Operators have often indicated that investment is possible if local authorities are prepared to take the hard decisions and deliver free movement for buses and coaches on the highway.
This is the foundation for everything else that Westminster Watcher would like the industry to deliver – and has been demonstrated. Where highway authorities are delivering, the industry is delivering too.
If CPT’s Bus Strategy takes a broad enough view, then it could be the bus industry’s salvation.
Given its importance, it must be worth waiting for.
Tim Gibson,
Leeds
