Building a world-class bus system for Britain Ian Taylor and Lynn Sloman TfQL Community Interest Company Final Report May 2016 About TfQL Community Interest Company This report was researched and written by Ian Taylor and Lynn Sloman, founding directors of TfQL Community Interest Company. TfQL Community Interest Company was established as the not-for-profit sister company to Transport for Quality of Life Limited, to enable the skills and experience within Transport for Quality of Life to be deployed on projects of social benefit within a not-for-profit social enterprise structure. Its work aims to promote a transport system that is more socially and environmentally beneficial, through research, policy development and dissemination of good practice. Web: www.transportforqualityoflife.com Email: [email protected] Telephone: 01654 781358 Incorporated in the UK, Company Number: 7715481 Credits and disclaimers Cover image credits (left to right): Chris Parker www.parkerphotography.co.uk; Unite The views expressed in the report are those of the authors and should not be taken to represent official policy of the organisations that have funded this research. Final report reissued May 2016. © Copyright TfQL Community Interest Company. All rights reserved. Note on terminology The term ‘franchising’ is used broadly in this report, to cover all systems where bus operations are regulated and competitively tendered, including: ‘net’ contracts in which the bus operator retains the fare revenue; ‘gross’ contracts (‘concessions’ by other terminologies) in which the franchising authority retains the fare revenue; contracts let under a ‘Quality Contract Scheme’; contracts let under a system like that operating in London; or contracts competitively let under any other arrangement. Building a world-class bus system for Britain i | P a g e Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank The Foundation for Integrated Transport and Unite for funding the research for this report. We would also like to thank the many people who have helped provide information for this project and those who have taken the time to share their expert insights into governance of bus services and ideas for how it could be improved in Britain: Martin Abrams Pedro Abrantes David Blainey Jonathan Bray Tom Ellerton Susanne Gallhagen Andy Gibbons Diana Holland Tobyn Hughes Stephen Joseph Martin Mayer Barry Moore Bobby Morton John Neal Simon Norton Tony Pettitt Charles Roberts Liam Robinson Tom Rye Sabine Trier Didier van de Velde Chris White Peter White Stephen Wise About the Foundation for Integrated Transport The Foundation for Integrated Transport is an independent charitable foundation. Its aims are: to promote comprehensive integrated public transport networks, including better local and regional bus networks; to increase awareness of existing sustainable transport options; to support initiatives that help promote sustainable transport; to support groups and individuals promoting and protecting local bus networks and sustainable transport; and to promote car-free access and sustainable transport to leisure and tourism attractions. Building a world-class bus system for Britain ii | P a g e Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................... iv Summary Report ..................................................................................................... S1 Full Report .................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 2 1.1 Context and purpose of this study ..................................................................... 2 1.2 Structure of this report ....................................................................................... 3 1.3 How did we get here? A long view of bus regulation ........................................ 3 2. What has happened since deregulation .............................................................. 7 2.1 Overview of the evidence .................................................................................. 7 2.2 Bus patronage ................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Bus services operated ..................................................................................... 10 2.4 Bus fares ......................................................................................................... 12 2.5 Public funding for buses .................................................................................. 14 2.6 Bus operators’ costs: efficiency and effectiveness ......................................... 18 2.7 Age and quality of buses ................................................................................. 20 2.8 Pay and working conditions of bus company employees ............................... 22 2.9 Number of bus companies .............................................................................. 22 3. Bus operator profit levels ................................................................................... 24 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Profit levels nationally and by type of area...................................................... 24 3.3 Profit variation between companies ................................................................ 25 3.4 Are these profit levels reasonable? ................................................................. 27 4. What would a world-class bus system look like? ............................................ 32 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 32 4.2 A Charter for a World-Class Bus System ........................................................ 33 4.3 Overview rating the present system against the Charter ................................ 74 5. How Britain’s bus system should be reformed ................................................ 76 5.1 Overview.......................................................................................................... 76 5.2 Bus governance: duties ................................................................................... 76 5.3 Bus governance: extra powers short of franchising ........................................ 77 5.4 Bus governance: franchising powers .............................................................. 78 5.5 Powers beyond franchising: a bigger role for municipal operators ................. 90 5.6 Bus governance: raising service standards .................................................. 104 5.7 Bus governance: structures........................................................................... 110 5.8 Finances ........................................................................................................ 112 6. Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 118 6.1 Overarching conclusions ............................................................................... 118 6.2 List of detailed conclusions and recommendations ...................................... 119 References ............................................................................................................. 121 Building a world-class bus system for Britain iii | P a g e Foreword TfQL Community Interest Company was founded to help create a transport system that meets our social and environmental needs. It is therefore most fitting that buses should be the subject of research for this our first report. Buses carry more people every day than any other form of public transport and provide a lifeline to jobs and facilities for many households in disadvantaged areas and on limited incomes. They are essential to our economic, social and environmental wellbeing. However, Britain’s bus services fall far short of what we need if we are to have a sustainable transport future. In many areas people have in recent years been left stranded by the disappearance of services they relied on to get to work, education, shops and amenities. In most of Britain our expectations of the bus system have become constrained, following several decades without an overarching vision for what we want from our bus system. This report takes a fresh approach. It steps back to consider what a world-class bus system for Britain would look like and looks in detail at why the present system of bus governance in Britain is failing to deliver that. Its findings point out a need for deep and extensive change, but nonetheless give us cause for optimism, because they show that there are cost-effective alternatives that could deliver a much better bus system. This report tells us that we can afford a world-class bus system, if we are bold enough to change from our present approach. John Stewart Chair, TfQL Community Interest Company Building a world-class bus system for Britain iv | P a g e Summary Report Building a world-class bus system for Britain S1 | P a g e S1. Purpose of the report Bus users in Britain inhabit different worlds, depending on where they live. In the first world, Londoners experience frequent services on a network and timetable designed by a transport authority that has the powers and funds to make the system work as a whole. In the