Support for Greater Regulation of Buses

Bus Regulation Bill 2 May 2013 from West End Labour on Vimeo.

I'm calling for greater regulation of bus services.  My colleague Iain Gray MSP has published a consultation on a proposed Members' Bill in the Scottish Parliament on Bus Regulation.  I believe that many people in my ward, and beyond, do not get the bus service they need due to a lack of regulation.  I have been supporting greater action on this issue for some time.  You can hear me making the case for greater regulation on Wave 102 by clicking on the video above.

I support Iain Gray in his call for greater bus regulation.  The City Council spends a lot of money on providing the infrastructure for buses but does not have much say about which areas get bus services.  For example, a number of areas of my ward where a lot of older people live have a poor bus service.  This is in areas like the Logie and Pentland estates, where eventually the council is providing a subsidised service.  The bus companies operating in Dundee do not feel that they have a need to provide services which are not profitable but which are socially necessary.  I think that it would be better if the council could bundle together profitable and socially useful services and franchise these together.  This would prevent the 'cherry-picking' of profitable routes.

We normally talk about bus services, I would question whether this is appropriate if nearly all bus 'services' are run for profit.  If we are going to encourage people to use buses then we need to ensure that there is a real bus service which meets their needs.

I will certainly be responding to this consultation and I will be encouraging community groups and others in the city to respond to the consultation.  I also hope that Dundee City Council will be responding to the consultation.

Please below for an Executive Summary of the Bill and its main points

Bus Regulation Bill – Executive Summary

-    Bill aims to reverse long-term decline in bus industry by improving services and increasing passenger journeys

-    Presently authorities fund services with little say in how they are run

-    Will give more power to local transport authorities to decide how services are run locally, including on frequency and fares

-    Powers will also include ability to ‘bundle’ profitable and unprofitable routes to be franchised together

-    Local authority fleets might also be used to provide socially useful services where there are gaps in provision

-    Role of Traffic Commissioner in Scotland will also be strengthened to impose tougher financial penalties on operators breaking terms of franchises