Tomorrow, the West Yorkshire integrated transport authority discusses quality contracts. It’s clear WYITA is keen to adopt the powers under the Local Transport Act 2008 that afford a greater opportunity for QCs. WYITA feels that in spite of operator and Metro PTE investment, bus patronage is still declining, even while the economy was growing. Result: fares increases above inflation and withdrawals. WYITA therefore talks of “dramatic interventions” to achieve a number of goals. These include increased passenger confidence, improved customer service, integration, and support for the wider social policy agenda. And they must be value for money.
Other ITAs are considering similar opportunities. South Yorkshire and Nexus have already undertaken dummy tendering. Are we therefore seeing an end to deregulation in our city regions?
Well, yes. In spite of Yorkshire media hype, WYITA’s view is nevertheless measured. WYITA considers the risks, not least a possible change of government that might put paid to QCs before they even start. WYITA’s timescales ensure that there are no significant costs ratcheted up till the governmental position is known.
WYITA also states that if it can achieve its goals within partnerships, this will continue to be pursued in parallel.
WYITA is also being upfront when it states that it may need to make difficult and unpopular decisions on service levels and fares in the future, to meet budget targets.
And there’s the rub. While WYITA talks of London & European city-style bus networks, this takes funding whereas, at the moment and in spite of its flaws, much is operated commercially. Proper funding squares the circle whatever the regime in force—and this needs to be sustainable. Will it be? And can WYITA give any long-term guarantee that a QC will be any better than the current market mix of commercial and tendered mileage? If there *is* long-term sustainable funding then it might actually be in operators’ interests to drop their opposition to QCs as the benefits might outweigh the disadvantages.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
On the Agendum—an end to deregulation
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4 comments:
"If there *is* long-term sustainable funding ...."
Can any form of public - i.e. politically controlled - funding be regarded as sustainable in the long term? I rather doubt it - as WYITA seems to recognise, its future can only be assured up to the next election.
first step is Wakefield. More people commute in there by rail than bus now. Arriva... not great.
But if they want to go for a proper European style network, the purpose of the bus is just to feed the rail network. So more people *should* travel by rail than bus, and the capacity should be provided to allow this.
Anonymous said...
"But if they want to go for a proper European style network, the purpose of the bus is just to feed the rail network."
That's true - certainly in Germany - but it won't work without the necessary infrastructure and equipment. I would suggest that in most parts of the UK, the rail network is simply not sufficiently dense to allow for such an approach. The difficulties of increasing capacity on existing rail links are also well-documented. So the UK will be dependent on buses for the foreseeable future.
Your use of the word 'should' is also interesting. The network and timetables in Germany do 'direct' passengers to use rail where possible, not always to the passenger's advantage. If I want to get to the next town west from my home, the regional transport authority timetable directs me to use rail to the nearest major city - travelling north-east; then another rail journey west to my destination. In simplistic terms, that's going around two sides of a triangle, but in practice, due to the indirect route of one of the lines, it's more like three sides of a rectangle. The total journey time is around 1 hour, although the station at the destination is not very central, so you could reasonably add 10 minutes walking time to a central point. By car - 15 minutes; bicycle - 1 hour - probably less if I was fitter! By direct bus - there isn't one, but I would think 30-40 minutes would be reasonable.
Somehow I don't think people are going to be impressed by being 'directed' to use a particular system/route if it is not advantageous to them - and as I have mentioned before, most 'potential' customers have access to alternatives.
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