Public to have say on bus franchising

A public consultation on bus franchising will run until mid-January

South Yorkshire’s mayor has taken another step towards bringing buses back under public control.

Oliver Coppard announced there would be a 12-week public consultation on bus franchising.

The change means the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority would control routes, fares and timetables, and would reinvest profits in the wider bus network.

Coppard said: "This would put us back in control so we make decisions on behalf of communities."

Oliver Coppard asked the government to provide more money for the bus network

The mayor said: “We used to have a world-class bus network in South Yorkshire but now private companies decide where and when buses run and what the fares look like.

"It is already expensive to run bus services in South Yorkshire, in 2019 we paid about £7m to private companies to run bus services.

"We now pay them £24m and they are running a smaller network that they can make profit from."

Bus operator First and the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, which represents bus and coach firms, have been approached for comment.

Coppard said he wanted more money from the government to help run buses.

He said: "We asked the last government for funding from the bus service improvement plan, they gave us zero.

"We currently get £30 less per head in South Yorkshire than they do in West Yorkshire so we definitely need more funding from the government."

The Department for Transport has also been approached by the BBC.

'Let us take control'

Matthew Topham, from the We Own It bus campaign group, welcomed news of the consultation.

He said: “After over a year of delays, we are delighted to be moving to a public vote on the mayor's proposals to bring buses into public control.

“Routes have been slashed, buses seem to never turn up on time, and the public pays to pick up the pieces through higher subsidies.

“No other country runs buses like this.

"Let us take control of the services so more profits can be reinvested."

The consultation had been due to take place over summer but was postponed while legal processes were settled.

It will now run from Wednesday 23 October to Wednesday 15 January 2025.

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