Press Release - Big Choices on Buses
Press Release - for immediate release
Re: WECA’s ‘big choices on buses’ consultation:
WECA’s small choices on buses: The real Big Choices on Buses
From: WESTACT - West of England Shared Transport and Active Travel Network (www.westact.org)
WECA’s ‘Big Choices on Buses’ meetings last week were asking people to choose between cutting bus routes - either reducing frequency or reliability - to help First Bus deal with driver shortages and a funding gap. These are real challenges, but in this time of cost of living crisis and climate crisis, the public conversation we should be having is about how to create a first class public transport system, not helping a private company decide how to make things worse. The ‘Big Choices on Buses’ would be more accurately named ‘small choices’.
Emilia Melville, who is on the steering group for WESTACT, says “It is like being on the Titanic and being asked to choose between steering further toward the iceberg or making the hole in the hull bigger. This ‘consultation’ was announced at very short notice (on a Thursday to take place the following Monday-Thursday) in locations that aren’t easy to get to unless you happen to be local. The responses are expected by the end of August – a month when most people are on holiday. The West of England Bus Strategy sets out an ambitious and positive plan for buses - but cutting existing routes in the meantime will reduce ridership and make it harder to implement.
“We are facing a climate emergency and a crisis of deepening inequality. Buses are an essential public service, and yet unreliable buses outside London are making it difficult for people to get to work or medical appointments on time, due to the UK’s ‘extreme form of privatisation’. At the same time, meeting our net zero climate emergency commitments requires a 35% reduction in car journeys by 2030.
“Buses are absolutely essential to both of these goals. At a time when we urgently need to get cars off the road, having a conversation about cutting the bus routes that people rely on to get from villages 5 miles from Bristol into Bristol city centre is farcical and tragic. This situation shows that the privately operated bus system, which has been called an ‘extreme form of privatisation’, is completely broken.”
WESTACT steering group member Rob Bryher, who is also a Car Free Cities campaigner for climate charity Possible, says “The ability to get around (‘mobility’) should be a statutory right for everyone in the UK – just as it is in countries such as Switzerland. This should be provided through timetabled, reliable, and affordable regular routes, with a minimum of an hourly service from 6am to midnight in all areas. Other cities and countries show us that it's possible to achieve this level of service, and absolutely necessary if public transport is to be a viable alternative to private cars. This summer of drought and heatwaves emphasises the urgency of acting on climate change - we need to be moving forwards and not backwards.”
WESTACT steering group member Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers is an Associate Professor for Engineering at UWE Bristol and led communications for the EU air pollution research project ClairCity.
“We need to see joined up thinking from our leaders, providing viable alternatives to polluting car congestion. This Autumn sees the introduction of Bristol's Clean Air Zone - an important measure to reduce toxic air pollution and improve city residents' health. Yet my village of Winterbourne now faces our two bus routes to Bristol being axed.
"We need carrots as well as sticks. How can people get to work and education if the green alternative to car congestion is whipped out from under them - at the same time as they face being fined for older cars? This is an equality issue. It will affect the young, older people and women more, as they rely on buses more.
"We need some solutions and systems-thinking to join up these policies - with politicians and citizens in the West of England local authorities working together. Tackling our toxic air and the climate emergency means incentivising people out of cars - and that means creating an integrated public transport system fit for a city region in the 21st Century".
Hartcliffe resident and A2A tutor Sue Koller says: “Buses are awful between Hartcliffe and UWE. There is no direct service. My daughter is really struggling to keep going to her course at UWE and get to her part-time job as well. Only 7% of kids from Hartcliffe go on to university, compared to Clifton where it’s the norm. Transport alone is a big reason.”
WESTACT’s Proposals
We need integrated transport planning that treats the bus system as a network – where feeder buses take people to main routes that provide quick journeys into town. Planning buses on a route-by-route basis does not function for journeys that don’t happen to be on the main route.
Citizen consultations or assemblies are a proven way to negotiate and agree solutions - but all options need to be on the table, and local authorities need to implement the suggested solutions. A true consultation would involve citizens to agree the useful routes and models which will encourage people out of cars and not harm the poorest.
Timetables need to be coordinated and planned – in Switzerland they have a ‘pulse-based’ timetable which means all the connections are coordinated, leading to a smooth door to door journey even when there are changes
Fares need to be affordable, easy to understand, and a single fare even if you change bus
‘On demand’ bus services are being used as an excuse to cut reliable timetabled bus routes, and can never provide the capacity we need if we are to make the shift away from private cars that true climate action calls for.
The ‘enhanced partnership’ approach, which WECA has chosen instead of bus franchising, does not give them sufficient powers to achieve any of these things.
WECA, Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council and North Somerset Council need to stop their territorial and party political squabbling, and actually get on with working together to deliver the services we need to get through this emergency.
Margaret Boushel, WESTACT Chair, says “This November, Bristol City Council’s Clean Air Zone will rightly charge high polluting vehicles entering Bristol City Centre. For people commuting from Yate and surrounding villages who can’t afford a new car, switching to the bus may be the only option for getting to work. This is a huge opportunity for modal shift, which should be supported with free tickets and special offers, easy to use route planning, reliable and consistent services, and buses that follow routes people are familiar with and can advise each other on.”
“Instead, WECA and First Bus are communicating that bus routes and timetables are unstable, and in jeopardy, that further cuts will take place in the future, and that people’s ideas for what they want are only welcome in the form of being complicit in making cuts to necessary services. The failure of coordination between Bristol and South Gloucestershire councils, and the failure of WECA to facilitate such coordination, is completely unacceptable given the climate emergency and so-called ‘cost of living’ crisis.”
“We recognise that implementing bus franchising is difficult, given how far the UK has gone down the path of extreme privatisation. Operating companies want to maintain this status quo and have taken local authorities to court over franchising. Although Manchester has won its court cases, it is intimidating and expensive to take on. But it is a battle we have to fight (and would be great if the companies actually helped implement it rather than fighting it!), if we are to get the transport system we need. This requires leadership, boldness and clarity from national, regional and local government. The current administrations at all levels are currently failing. We as citizens must demand and vote for more.”
Notes to Editor
WESTACT website https://westact.org/ - formerly Moving Bristol Forward
WECA ‘Big Choices on Buses’ public meetings were announced on the 28th July and took place on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of August. The consultation survey is due in on the 31st August. https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/transport/bus/big-choices-on-buses/
Methods to involve citizens in decision-making can range from consultations to Assemblies. UWE Bristol modelling shows that citizen-led policy suggestions can reduce emissions to tackle air pollution and climate change.
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3406
The University of Bristol Cabot Institute for the Environment says that the modal share of cars should go from 50% to 30% by 2030 if Bristol is to meet it’s net zero goals. Most of these journeys should be replaced by walking and cycling. http://cabot-institute.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-modal-share-for-net-zero.html
West of England Bus Strategy “Our vision is for bus services people can depend on, are quick and reliable, combine to form a simple to understand and easy to use network, are accessible for everyone, are safe and comfortable, and offer value for money to passengers and to the public purse.” https://travelwest.info/app/uploads/2020/02/West-of-England-Bus-Strategy.pdf
Bristol City Council’s Clean Air Zone comes into force on the 28th November https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/streets-travel/bristols-caz
“The United Kingdom has adopted an extreme form of bus privatization in England, Scotland, and Wales, almost unique among wealthy countries.” Public Transport, Private Profit report https://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Report-Public-Transport-Private-Profit.pdf
“These failures are not just an inconvenience—they have resulted in serious human rights impacts for those who rely on the bus, including to access work, education, healthcare, and food, and to move out of poverty. This has been especially severe for those in rural areas, older people, women, and people with disabilities” Public Transport, Private Profit report https://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Report-Public-Transport-Private-Profit.pdf
“Without buses people face the unpalatable choice of using cars and taxis or giving up work or educational opportunities entirely. This also narrows their choice around such opportunities. We heard that buses are not reliable, making it difficult for people to get to work or medical appointments on time. We also heard that routes are often too far from people’s work, home, school, college or other places they need to visit.” - House of Commons Transport Committee https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmtrans/1425/1425.pdf
