South Yorkshire mayoral election 2022: Candidates speak out over public transport

Voters in South Yorkshire will elect a new mayor for the county on Thursday 5 May.

Dan Jarvis, the present incumbent, who was elected in 2018 and is also Labour MP for Barnsley Central, previously said he would not seek re-election.

The new mayor for Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield will have powers over economic schemes, transport services and infrastructure projects.

The six candidates have told BBC Radio Sheffield how they would do the job.

This is what they said about their plans for improving South Yorkshire's public transport should they be elected as South Yorkshire's new mayor (candidates listed alphabetically):

David Bettney - Social Democratic Party

Mr Bettney told BBC Radio Sheffield: "You've got to look at this strategically. The first thing I would go back to again is industry.

"If we're going to create long-term jobs, sustainable good long-term jobs in manufacturing, then we need to put all the links from those factories up to the main hub for rail and for road and for buses.

"Rather than trying to come up with a plan and then later on bolting on factories and bolting on other things, that's got to come at the same time. Again, I think they're not thinking big enough picture.

"I think you can't do one without the other. You've got to plan where you're going to have your industry first, and then put your transport links around that."

Simon Biltcliffe - Yorkshire Party

Mr Biltcliffe said: "I think it's fair to say the Tory government which privatised the bus service in 1986 mucked it up thoroughly and that needs to be redressed really quickly.

"I don't know whether public ownership is the thing, but certainly the franchising of it and us being in control of the routes, frequency and the fares is really important. And getting better quality service, in terms of both environmental quality but also internet connectivity when you're on public transport and the reliability, is hugely important. If you got to London, which runs that kind of system, you see how much better it is than up here.

"So, using technology in public transport will be really important; making sure the pricing is appropriate. When I was a kid you could get anywhere around South Yorkshire for 2p, which is equivalent to 32p now. In today's world, it's eight times that. It's gone up hugely. It's much more expensive than it used to be.

"We need to look into all those things and basically make it so [buses] are a really attractive way of getting around, because cars are very expensive and a lot of people don't want to have a car from an environmental point of view. And from a net zero perspective, we need to wean people off car ownership over a period of time or make it more selective - and you do that by making public transport more attractive."

Oliver Coppard - Labour

Mr Coppard said improving the public transport network would be a "priority" if he was voted in as South Yorkshire Mayor on 5 May "so people don't need to own a car and pay the extortionate bills that come with that in terms of petrol, insurance etc".

"I'd make sure I'm working every day to bring the buses back under public control," he said.

"[Labour] means to make a step-change in the way our public transport network runs - not just for getting people from A to B, but also making sure people live healthier lives because they can get out and about, making sure people can see their friends and families, and get to work, social appointments, hospital appointments, you name it. It's a social justice issue, we need to get it right.

"It won't be easy and, to be absolutely clear, the government just turned down [Labour mayor Dan Jarvis'] bid for a bus service improvement plan, which is an ambitious strategy for £435m which we asked the government to invest in our region - and they didn't give us a single penny."

Joe Otten - Liberal Democrat

Mr Otten told BBC Radio Sheffield: "We need a franchise system. We need public control of the buses. We're always putting money into the public bus network and the bus companies are saying, 'well it's very nice, but we're taking money out, we're going to reduce the services, we're going to put up the fares'.

"We need to be able to control the networks so the money we put in is actually going to improve the reliability and the frequency of buses for people who need them.

"Because the system is shocking. It's shocking how bad the reliability of buses is. You can't rely on the buses and you're not going to use them if you've got any choice at all, and that's not what we need to be."

He added: "We can aim to have a better transport network where the fare structure on buses means you can do a whole journey on one ticket rather than having to buy two tickets. That would actually save a lot of people a lot of money."

Clive Watkinson - Conservative

Mr Watkinson said: "The current Mayor Dan Jarvis just had his proposals rejected - a bit of a silly bid to be honest. It was just taking us back to the 1980s with public ownership and, frankly, we look at that with too much rose-tinted glasses.

"I was there at the time. The buses were fairly regularly on strike; they were very poor and hadn't been maintained so they constantly broke down; they weren't on time. So I certainly don't think we should be going back to that, I think that's a terrible idea.

"I think a hybrid system of what we've currently got, with a little more public control over that, would be very useful. So, for example, some bus routes need subsidising - not all of them, but some of them do, otherwise they're not economical.

"Eventually, I think we need more control over the timetables. We need to make sure we integrate that with the rail services and that they're accurate. But I think [buses] should be run by private companies because, frankly, when government gets involved they don't do a very good job at running things."

Bex Whyman - Green Party

Ms Whyman told BBC Radio Sheffield: "Public transport in South Yorkshire is not regular and reliable enough and it's not accessible enough.

"What I would love to see is a fully integrated transport network across the whole of South Yorkshire with active travel at the heart, making sure we can actually be better connected. Buses is the way to do that."

Ms Whyman said the rising costs of bus fares and "temperamental" services could be resolved "by pushing through franchising as soon as possible and then, hopefully, bringing that into public ownership".

"There are a few laws that need changing in order to make that happen, but I believe it's something we can absolutely push for and make that happen. You've only got to look at what they're doing in Manchester," she said.

Listen to the full interviews on BBC Sounds to hear what each candidate has to say about what they would do if voted in as Mayor of South Yorkshire.