First Glasgow BYD K9 /Alexander Dennis Enviro 200EV
Return of direct operations….
Local transport authorities (LTAs) in Scotland have been encouraged by Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth to consider operating municipal bus services after the Scottish Government commenced such powers under Section 34 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.
Municipal operation is among the options outlined in the Act that, it is hoped, will arrest bus patronage decline in Scotland and lead to improved services. Collaborative working via a Bus Service Improvement Partnership (BSIP) is another avenue, as is reregulation via the franchised model. Transport Scotland earlier said that secondary legislation to enable both the latter will be introduced “before the end of 2023.”
Where Scottish LTAs take up the ability to run local bus services themselves, they may do so “in any way they see fit within the wider context of their obligations,” says Transport Scotland. Such activities were previously prohibited under the Transport Act 1985. The new power sits alongside LTAs’ existing scope to subsidise services.
During passage of the Bill that subsequently became the 2019 Act, some LTAs in Scotland had indicated a desire for “a clearer legal framework to afford the option to run their own buses,” Transport Scotland said in an earlier consultation.
The 2019 Act “is not restrictive” in the way that those LTAs can run their own buses. As a result, they may choose to do so directly or via an arm’s length external organisation in which the LTA is the main shareholder but is not involved in day-to-day operation.
Under the Act, Scottish ministers may issue guidance in relation to exercising the new functions. Responses to the same consultation showed that four themes are dominant among the information that LTAs need for possible municipal operation: Legislative requirements, financial implications, competition impacts and bus service business models.
While Ms Gilruth has encouraged all LTAs in Scotland to consider using the new power to run their own bus services, she has acknowledged that not all will wish to do so, and that some will opt for alternative BSIP or reregulation approaches. However, “what is key is that LTAs will soon have greater tools at their disposal to revitalise bus services where required,” she adds.
First Glasgow is already part of a partnership (GlasGo) with Stagecoach Western Buses, Craig of Campbeltown, McGill’s Buses and Whitelaws Coaches to improve bus travel in partnership with the local authorities. Of course for some, who view private companies providing bus services as some sort of anti-Christ, no amount of partnership will be good enough. They want direct ownership run by local authorities, thinking that’ll solve everything. Of course some of us can recall when buses were last owned that way in the 1970s and 1980s. And it wasn’t all milk and honey then…
Of course life has changed considerably since then and it’s clear with things such as the end of diesel and the rush for zero emissions, as well as changes due to ways of working following the pandemic, what worked even as recently as 2019 may not work now. So some sort of change needs for happen, even if ridership is slowly recovering. Although no one who advocates the direct ownership model has explained how the private companies would be suitably compensated for having their bus fleets taken off them at a time when public finances are under so much strain. Remember when the big four rail companies were nationalised at the formation of British Railways back in 1948, the shareholders received millions of pounds in compensation at that time. It would be similar such sums possibly in the billions if it happened again to the bus fleets of First, Stagecoach, Arriva and others. Or if the companies declined to play ball - as is their right of course - and transferred their bus fleets elsewhere to local authorities advocating the partnership avenue, new vehicles would need to sourced by the local authorities. Political dogma isn’t cheap after all.
As if to emphasise how the bus industry has changed, here’s 64108 (LG71DLX). This time last year, the service it’s on was run by Euro III-engined Volvo B7RLEs. Now it’s clean electric buses.
First Glasgow BYD K9 /Alexander Dennis Enviro 200EV
Return of direct operations….
Local transport authorities (LTAs) in Scotland have been encouraged by Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth to consider operating municipal bus services after the Scottish Government commenced such powers under Section 34 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.
Municipal operation is among the options outlined in the Act that, it is hoped, will arrest bus patronage decline in Scotland and lead to improved services. Collaborative working via a Bus Service Improvement Partnership (BSIP) is another avenue, as is reregulation via the franchised model. Transport Scotland earlier said that secondary legislation to enable both the latter will be introduced “before the end of 2023.”
Where Scottish LTAs take up the ability to run local bus services themselves, they may do so “in any way they see fit within the wider context of their obligations,” says Transport Scotland. Such activities were previously prohibited under the Transport Act 1985. The new power sits alongside LTAs’ existing scope to subsidise services.
During passage of the Bill that subsequently became the 2019 Act, some LTAs in Scotland had indicated a desire for “a clearer legal framework to afford the option to run their own buses,” Transport Scotland said in an earlier consultation.
The 2019 Act “is not restrictive” in the way that those LTAs can run their own buses. As a result, they may choose to do so directly or via an arm’s length external organisation in which the LTA is the main shareholder but is not involved in day-to-day operation.
Under the Act, Scottish ministers may issue guidance in relation to exercising the new functions. Responses to the same consultation showed that four themes are dominant among the information that LTAs need for possible municipal operation: Legislative requirements, financial implications, competition impacts and bus service business models.
While Ms Gilruth has encouraged all LTAs in Scotland to consider using the new power to run their own bus services, she has acknowledged that not all will wish to do so, and that some will opt for alternative BSIP or reregulation approaches. However, “what is key is that LTAs will soon have greater tools at their disposal to revitalise bus services where required,” she adds.
First Glasgow is already part of a partnership (GlasGo) with Stagecoach Western Buses, Craig of Campbeltown, McGill’s Buses and Whitelaws Coaches to improve bus travel in partnership with the local authorities. Of course for some, who view private companies providing bus services as some sort of anti-Christ, no amount of partnership will be good enough. They want direct ownership run by local authorities, thinking that’ll solve everything. Of course some of us can recall when buses were last owned that way in the 1970s and 1980s. And it wasn’t all milk and honey then…
Of course life has changed considerably since then and it’s clear with things such as the end of diesel and the rush for zero emissions, as well as changes due to ways of working following the pandemic, what worked even as recently as 2019 may not work now. So some sort of change needs for happen, even if ridership is slowly recovering. Although no one who advocates the direct ownership model has explained how the private companies would be suitably compensated for having their bus fleets taken off them at a time when public finances are under so much strain. Remember when the big four rail companies were nationalised at the formation of British Railways back in 1948, the shareholders received millions of pounds in compensation at that time. It would be similar such sums possibly in the billions if it happened again to the bus fleets of First, Stagecoach, Arriva and others. Or if the companies declined to play ball - as is their right of course - and transferred their bus fleets elsewhere to local authorities advocating the partnership avenue, new vehicles would need to sourced by the local authorities. Political dogma isn’t cheap after all.
As if to emphasise how the bus industry has changed, here’s 64108 (LG71DLX). This time last year, the service it’s on was run by Euro III-engined Volvo B7RLEs. Now it’s clean electric buses.