Identifying Barriers to the Implementation of Bus Policy at a Local Level in Great Britain Using a Decision Support Framework
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IDENTIFYING BARRIERS TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BUS POLICY AT A LOCAL LEVEL IN GREAT BRITAIN USING A DECISION SUPPORT FRAMEWORK Clare McTigue B.Eng., M.Sc. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Edinburgh Napier University, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy Transport Research Institute October 2018 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, is my work that I solely carried out at Edinburgh Napier University, except where due acknowledgement is made, and that neither the thesis nor the original work contained therein has been submitted to this or any other institution for a degree. ________________________ Clare McTigue Date i Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have supported me throughout this journey. Without a doubt, my two supervisors, Professor Tom Rye and Dr. Jason Monios, have provided me with the greatest support, encouragement and guidance and I feel for- tunate to have had the opportunity to be supervised by such talented and humorous indi- viduals. Thank you for helping me to become an independent researcher, but above all, thank you for believing in me. I would like to acknowledge the public transport officers who completed the ques- tionnaires and telephone interviews. Without their support, this research would not be possible. I would also like to acknowledge the interviewees from each case study who generously shared their time to take part in the interviews. To Michelle and Annie, who now know a lot more about bus policy than they prob- ably ever wanted to – your thoughtfulness will always be remembered. I would like to extend my gratitude and thanks to my parents, big brothers and friends who have supported me throughout this journey. Thanks to “The Old Gang” back home in Ireland – I’ve learned that true friendship continues to grow, even over the long- est distance. Finally, I am most thankful to Juan who is my number one hero. Meeting you will be the greatest memory that I take from this journey. Ní neart go cur le chéile. ii To Francis and Geraldine – iii Abstract The current debate on transport policy in the UK is focused on the need for a sustainable transport system. Buses play a vital role in achieving this, as they are the most frequently used and most accessible mode of public transport. However, the literature shows that the delivery of sustainable transport policies is not producing the desired outcomes (Hull, 2009) and the application of such policies in real situations remains inconsistent. This is evident across the UK where there has been a decrease in bus patronage and bus mileage. To address this gap, the aim of this research is to identify why bus policies are not imple- mented successfully at a local level and to provide recommendations for implementation and decision making that will aid policy makers, local authority staff, regional transport partnerships, bus operating companies and other practitioners working within the field of transport. A mixed methodology was chosen for this research and is divided into three key stages to address the research problem. The first methodology included an online ques- tionnaire and 143 questionnaires were sent to all public transport officers in Great Britain. 80 surveys were returned giving a response rate of 56%. The second methodology in- cluded telephone interviews conducted with 10 of those public transport officers who responded to the questionnaire in order to elicit a deeper understanding of the results, which could not be achieved from the questionnaire results alone. Finally, the third meth- odology included four case studies on specific bus schemes within Great Britain. These case studies were the Quality Contract Scheme in Tyne and Wear, Fastlink Scheme in Glasgow, Bus Priority Scheme in Solihull and Smart Ticketing Scheme in Dundee. While the questionnaires and telephone interviews provide an overview of bus policy imple- mentation across Great Britain, the multiple case studies were required to investigate the topic in depth, thus identifying the greatest barriers to bus policy implementation. Anal- ysis of the three sets of data is based on the application of a new decision support frame- work developed in this research. The findings in this thesis reveal that local authorities in Great Britain are under- performing in the implementation of bus policy due to the barriers they face. The greatest barriers to implementation include the lack of a policy document; the characteristics of iv the organisation; availability of resources; intra-organisation support and communication; economic, social and political environments; and opposition, conflict, and ambiguities. Overall, this research has identified several concerns with bus policy implementation. The most obvious concern is the unclear link between policy objectives and measures and the setting and monitoring of performance targets. Meanwhile, the deregulation of the bus sector in the UK means that, in some cases, a lack of control over the implementation of certain measures places limits on policy implementation and results in the frequent im- plementation of policy measures that are achievable rather than those that are necessary to the achievement of policy objectives. The findings from this research also help policy- makers and transport planners to predict what makes implementation successful and to address problems and issues through improved policies and regulations, as well as to an- ticipate and plan for likely barriers. Moreover, addressing these barriers can help tackle the decline in bus mileage and bus usage across Great Britain. v List of publications In accordance with Edinburgh Napier University regulations, a list of publications must be stated resulting from the research undertaken and the published material must be in- cluded with the submitted thesis. The following publications have arisen from the re- search and are reported in this thesis: McTigue, C., Monios, J., Rye, T. 2018. Identifying barriers to implementation of local transport policy: An analysis of bus policy in Great Britain. Utilities Policy, 50, pp.133–143. McTigue, C., Rye, T., Monios, J. 2017. The role of reporting mechanisms in transport policy implementation by local authorities in England. Case Studies on Transport Policy. (Accepted for publication on 10th December 2017). vi Table of contents Declaration.................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... iv List of publications ..................................................................................................................... vi List of figures ............................................................................................................................. xii List of tables.............................................................................................................................. xiii List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................. xv Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background and motivation ................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Geographical parameters and scope of this study ............................................................... 4 1.3 Research questions .............................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 5 1.5 Research aim and objectives ............................................................................................... 6 1.6 Structure of thesis ............................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: A historical review of bus policy .......................................................................... 10 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Background to bus policy ................................................................................................. 11 2.2.1 England and Wales .................................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Scotland ..................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.3 London ...................................................................................................................... 16 2.3 Bus policy in Great Britain ............................................................................................... 17 2.3.1 The study of bus deregulation in Great Britain ......................................................... 19 2.3.2 Transport policy implementation .............................................................................. 20 2.3.3 Case study research on transport