Labour Nationalising buses

[blossomchris]

Great idea, I love buses rides and the people on them, always manage to have a conversation with strangers.

this party vow may well convince me to vote for them. I bet the others come up with similar schemes as it is a winner in my book

 

[Bob McC]

What Manchester does first Labour follows.

The new Bee Network - bus fares, the app and what you need to know

Bus franchising - giving power back to the people - starts on Sunday

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

 

[gavreid]

Let's hope so!

 

[Mike Reed]

I think the railways need far more attention than buses. By buses, I guess more localised transport (i.e. not long-distance coaches). Certainly here in Norwich, there's little to complain about, despite my antipathy towards that form of travel, however useful.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

Interesting. Reference to the announcement?

In ye olde days local Councils had control over local buses and determined the routes, timetables, etc. Companies could then bid, but had to agree performance, etc, with the Council. That mean local people could get the services and routes they needed. Not just have companies cream off the 'profitable' routes and ignore places leaving people many unable to travel.

So it would be a bit odd to 'Nationalise' the bus services. But placing control, etc, with Councils, under general requirements of Government about service levels, may well make sense to get back.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

I think the railways need far more attention than buses. By buses, I guess more localised transport (i.e. not long-distance coaches). Certainly here in Norwich, there's little to complain about, despite my antipathy towards that form of travel, however useful.

The problem with bus services as things are is that the service is for profit, not for enabling people to travel. That means some places / routes are well served whilst others are left with little or no service and/or eyewatering prices.

Bit like the Railways, actually. Shambles for profit.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Hopefully good news. Though I wonder if some cash-strapped local authorities will be in a position to actually do anything without some financial support from central government.

Labour promises to allow every community to take back control of local bus services – The Labour Party

Labour’s shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh MP, has today [Thursday 11 April 2024] set out the party’s plans for a better busnetwork across England, with a promise to allow every community across the country to take back control of local bus services. Labour’s plan could create and save up...

labour.org.uk

 

[gavreid]

The problem with bus services as things are is that the service is for profit, not for enabling people to travel. That means some places / routes are well served whilst others are left with little or no service and/or eyewatering prices.

Bit like the Railways, actually. Shambles for profit.

There is (in theory) a fraction of routes that were deemed socially necessary to keep, often evenings and weekends for services run for profit when it suited the companies and routes to more 'remote' locations i.e. 6 miles from the city rather than 5 sort of thing. These have been, decimated, decimated again and then slashed further...

 

[paulfromcamden]

There is (in theory) a fraction of routes that were deemed socially necessary to keep, often evenings and weekends for services run for profit when it suited the companies and routes to more 'remote' locations i.e. 6 miles from the city rather than 5 sort of thing. These have been, decimated, decimated again and then slashed further...

Not quite the same thing but...

 

[Brown Bottle]

Buses in London are run privately, many buses in Central London, outside rush hour are running empty but still have priority over other road users.

I don’t use the trains that much but since being taken out of private ownership South Eastern trains seem to run much better and is a better user experience.

Cheers BB

 

[paulfromcamden]

I don’t use the trains that much but since being taken out of private ownership South Eastern trains seem to run much better and is a better user experience.

Mixed experience with our local SouthEastern line. First thing DfT did on taking them over was cut services and force more people to change at London Bridge by removing direct services to Charing Cross.

I think it would have been better to give it to TFL but the government stated outright that they wouldn't transfer it to an organisation chaired by a Labour mayor.

 

[gavreid]

DfT has little expertise internally. My mate who was a Transport 'expert' used to get a lot of contract work from them - timetable and fare modelling, taxi policy etc etc

 

[gez]

In London at least I'm not convinced what that would solve/improve. Buses are reasonably good value and there's a huge inter connecting network of them across the city. Apart from the fact that due to obvious reasons they're a slow way of getting anywhere, I think they work reasonably well here.

What does need doing is price capping the Underground, it's too expensive has regular closures/part closures or service disruptions and is disgustingly dirty. When I used to use it regularly I never really noticed how dirty the air was, now I don't do so every time I need to use it I feel l should be wearing a mask. In fact one report (might have even been a TfL one) showed that even central Londons air quality was better than the undergrounds.

Pretty difficult to complain about this:

Tableau

public.tableau.com

 

[Mike Hughes]

Truly wish this were as simple as presented. As we know with TfL, what looks great on the surface is far more complex underneath. So in London we’ve had the unedifying sight of bus drivers who originated with different companies driving the same routes for different rates of pay. The current service is essentially unaffordable and the need to subsidise it has brought it financially to its knees. Driver training is all over the place and basic disability awareness remains a big issue.

In Manchester only some of the network is live; a subsidised £2 fare is in place but with no long term plan for how to maintain that beyond, for example, the general election. TfGM, or the Bee Network as it’s now known, made the same mistake it made initially with Metrolink in buying new rolling stock with no consideration of accessibility and is so well off financially that they can’t afford to repaint existing rolling stock. Accessibility is the same or worse overall (having a fleet of buses all the same colour on Oxford Road for example makes it way harder to identify your bus. The journey planner and app are as poor as they all are and you can’t even buy the £2 fare on the app and so on.

It will take decades to see any significant change.

The Labour plans are hilarious. Their press release even g9vesyiu the figures and context so you can see how little it is proposed to change.

 

[Brown Bottle]

Mixed experience with our local SouthEastern line. First thing DfT did on taking them over was cut services and force more people to change at London Bridge by removing direct services to Charing Cross.

I think it would have been better to give it to TFL but the government stated outright that they wouldn't transfer it to an organisation chaired by a Labour mayor.

I only travel into Victoria or St Pancras. I imagine since the redevelopment of London Bridge it can handle more through put than Charing Cross.

Cheers BB

 

[Minio]

In Norwich last week looking out the window whilst waiting for my dental appointment.

Buses going by every five minutes. Every one was electric. I lost count.

If the council and the bus company have got that much money between them I'm not sure they need nationalising.

 

[paulfromcamden]

I only travel into Victoria or St Pancras. I imagine since the redevelopment of London Bridge it can handle more through put than Charing Cross.

Cheers BB

It can handle a lot of footfall but it becomes a problem when a line carrying passengers onwards into town fails and inbound trains carry on depositing passengers who are then stuck in the station.

'I thought I was going to be trampled to death': London Bridge 'dangerously overcrowded' at rush hour again

Passengers were held back from platforms at London Bridge on Tuesday evening at rush hour leaving the station hugely overcrowded again, weeks after a similar situation.

www.lbc.co.uk

 

[Mike Reed]

Buses going by every five minutes. Every one was electric. I lost count.

How did you know; do they advertise such on the side? My trip into Castle Square this morning and return was by double decker, unusually, but def. good old diesel.

 

[Minio]

How did you know; do they advertise such on the side? My trip into Castle Square this morning and return was by double decker, unusually, but def. good old diesel.

They are purple with "Norwich Electric" on the side. They're very quiet.
Sort of gives it away.

Top of Plumstead Road by Aldi, last week. All the buses were electric. I didn't see one ordinary one.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

There is (in theory) a fraction of routes that were deemed socially necessary to keep, often evenings and weekends for services run for profit when it suited the companies and routes to more 'remote' locations i.e. 6 miles from the city rather than 5 sort of thing. These have been, decimated, decimated again and then slashed further...

The problem has been Councils were 'allowed' to subsidise given routes, etc, but were starved of the money to pay for it.... in order for Tory Governments to have more to hand over to railway privatisation pirates as profits.