‘Unless they act at once the damage will be done’
On March 1 bus operators in England will notify traffic commissioners of extensive cuts to services – unless the Treasury extends emergency funding South Yorkshire mayor Dan Jarvis (second from right) led a statement by seven of England’s nine metro mayors The Treasury is being urged to extend emergency funding to support local...
Can you level up while scaling back?
Can you level up while scaling back? Better public transport is at the heart of the government’s ‘levelling up’ plans, but networks face huge cuts Boris Johnson visited Blackpool Transport last week to publicise the levelling up white paper The government’s plans to spread opportunity and prosperity to left-behind communities include “local public...
Franchising favoured over bus partnerships
Welsh Government wants European model and ‘single guiding mind’ Lee Waters wants a “single guiding mind” for buses in Wales By Rhodri Clark. The Welsh Government is planning to omit partnerships from its future bus services legislation and to focus on franchising services across Wales. Bus operators were dismayed to discover last month...
Vere relaxed about bus strategy’s funding gap
There are widespread fears that England’s National Bus Strategy won’t live up to expectations, but transport minister Baroness Vere doesn’t share them Baroness Vere: “We asked local transport authorities to be ambitious, and lo and behold they were” With the prime minister battling to remain in Downing Street after successive waves of allegations,...
Pay award sees NCT top bus earnings league
Municipal makes move in response to 5% vacancy rate Pay award sees top rate of pay increase to £13.10 per hour Nottingham City Transport has announced significant pay increases for driving staff and new starters that will make them amongst the highest earners in the country outside London. In December the council-owned bus...
‘We want to be more than just contractors’
Martin Dean, managing director, business development at Go-Ahead Group, wants private sector expertise to retain a place in railway operation There are differing views over how much credit the commercial train operating companies can take for patronage growth The Go-Ahead Group is urging the government to ensure that the skills of the private...
Stagecoach and National Express agree merger
Two groups agree all-share merger, creating worldwide transport group worth £1.9bn Deal creates worldwide group with 40,000 vehicles and 70,000 employees The Boards of National Express Group and Stagecoach have announced they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all-share combination of the two groups. The two groups have been in...
National Bus Strategy has £5bn funding gap
The government’s spending review offered £2.1bn to improve bus services in England but Bus Service Improvement Plans have requested £7.2bn Graham Vidlier: “Current funding is likely to be able to transform bus services in only a small number of places” The funds made available by the government to transform bus services fall drastically...
England is UK ‘outlier’ on transport policy
Welsh deputy minister for climate change seeks ‘alternative axis’ Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change in Wales Transport policy in England is increasingly at odds with the other nations of the UK, and even with its own regions, according to Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change in Wales. Waters explained his...
Ministers strip TfN of responsibility for NPR
In a move branded ‘inconsistent with the government’s devolution agenda’, Transport for the North will no longer be paid to develop East-West links Ministers have removed funding and powers from Transport for the North after it dismissed the government’s Integrated Rail Plan for the North and the Midlands as “woefully inadequate”. TfN was...
Franchises ‘will ensure bus staff are well paid’
Following a series of strikes, the Welsh Government says bus franchising will safeguard workers’ pay and conditions. Rhodri Clark reports Ebbw Vale’s deserted bus station during this month’s strike by some Stagecoach employees The Welsh Government says that future bus franchises will safeguard workers’ conditions and ensure staff are well paid. Legislation to...
Don’t ‘COP out’ and rely on electric cars
Sustainable Transport Alliance uses COP26 to warn that solely focusing on electric vehicles would ignore their social and environmental drawbacks Transport secretary Grant Shapps posed with an electric car at COP26 The UK’s leading sustainable transport NGOs this week appealed to world leaders to recognise that technology alone cannot reduce transport emissions. Instead,...
