A VOTE to bring under-fire bus services back under public control is set to be held later this month after county bosses agreed to fund a consultation.
Papers released this week revealed South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has signed off on the £165,000, 12-week consultation which - if also agreed by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority board members - will begin on October 23 to January 15.
Government-set rules require county bosses to undertake a three-step evaluation of the policy which includes a technical assessment, audit and public consultation before announcing a final decision on franchising, which effectively means operators would have to bid for contracts.
Currently, bus companies have jurisdiction over routes, fares and standards but re-regulation would reverse that.
A report said: “Bus services provide essential journeys allowing people to access employment, education, healthcare, leisure and social activities.
“They are fundamental in supporting the SYMCA’s ambitions to drive economic growth and to improve the prosperity, health and environment for the people of South Yorkshire.
“However, bus services have been experiencing a long-term cycle of decline, an issue that has been further exacerbated by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and rising levels of inflation.
“One of the effects of this has been a growing reliance on public funding to sustain bus service levels.
“The bus reform assessment considers a range of possible future operating models for services alongside the underlying market and strategic challenges and opportunities and considers potential implications for local people.
“To sustain the 2023/24 bus network, each of the operating models would require additional public sector investment.
“However, such investment would deliver better value for money and be more affordable to the SYMCA under a franchised model.”
The government’s 2017 Bus Services Act gave English ‘metro mayors’ - such as ex-county boss and current Barnsley North MP Dan Jarvis, his successor Mr Coppard and West Yorkshire leader Tracy Brabin - new powers to set up Transport for London-style bus franchise systems.
A public consultation on public control in West Yorkshire ran from October 2023 to January 2024, with about 82 per cent of people who responded saying they either supported or supported in part the move to franchising.
Campaigner Matthew Topham told the Chronicle: “After over a year of delays we’re delighted to be moving to a public vote on the mayor’s proposals to bring buses into public control.
“The current privatised system is little more than daylight robbery - routes have been slashed, buses seem to never turn up on time and the public pays to pick up the pieces through higher subsidies.
“Reliability is a top issue across our region - if the bus doesn’t turn up on time or at all, passengers are left scrambling to get themselves to work, school, or just to see family and friends.
“We know that areas with greater local control of services, like Blackpool, are some of the most consistently reliable services in the country so we deserve the same here.
“By taking our buses into public control, we’ll unlock new powers to regulate for reliability: fines for bad service, rewards for rapid improvements and timetables that are set with punctuality - not profits - in mind.
“No other country runs buses like this - let’s take control of the services so more profits can be reinvested and operators have to answer to us.”
