Transport Insights

It looks as if West of England metro mayor Helen Godwin is firmly opposed to bus franchising in the region and does not want the public to know how strong the case is or what the costs might be.

The Bristol Post reports:

Campaigners calling for bus services in Bristol and the West of England to be brought back under public control say those in charge of the region are keeping a report into the idea out of the public domain.

…with campaigners saying one reason could be because it revealed that franchising the bus services in Bristol would be achievable.

The Post explains that last year the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) commissioned ARUP to compile a report into bus franchising, which was delivered to it in April.

Open Government campaigner and bus franchise supporter Joseph Lloyd submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a copy of the report to be published, but WECA has now refused.

WECA chiefs said releasing the report could ‘negatively impact an organisation’s commercial interests’ – which can only mean the West’s two main bus companies First and Stagecoach.

It’s quite a complicated story and it appears that Godwin wants a non-franchising system, such as an enhanced partnership. A WECA spokesperson said:

We are currently undertaking a full review of options, which is a significant piece of work involving unitary authorities and operators.

The article points out that Godwin currently has little power over bus services and can only use Government grant money to subsidise routes that private companies might want to stop, or to subsidise fares.

It also says:

The West of England received just £752 million from central Government to invest in its transport network, while most other cities and ‘city regions’ in England received investment in the billions – mainly to fund expansions of their mass transit scheme.

This is true, until you work it out per head of population, with the West of England getting least at £680 per head but Greater Manchester, for example, getting £860m per head and the East Midlands getting £825m. So while the West is getting less, it is not a huge disparity.

Godwin has also claimed that the costs of franchising mean that “we would have to include a precept on people’s council tax to pay for it”, which she suggested “would be an extra 4.5%”.

It is clear that she would not want a report to be released that showed this figure to be a huge exaggeration, much like West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin having a vested interest in suppressing a report that showed her plans for mass transit to be a politically-driven shambles.