I have a news update
for everyone on the bus industry in Britain. To start us off, the Bus Services Bill has been published
for the public to view.
From Route One
Bus Services Bill is
published: Now the debating can start
The
wait is finally over as the Bus Services Bill has been published.
The
88-page, 33,500 word bill was published
late on Friday afternoon (20 May).
Lord
Ahmed of Wimbledon - who speaks for the Department for Transport in the House
of Lords - introduced the Bill yesterday (a procedural formality) and ordered
it to be printed.
The bill covers eight
key areas:
·
Advanced
Quality Partnership Schemes
·
Franchising
Schemes
·
Advanced
Ticketing schemes
·
Enhanced
Partnership Plans and Schemes
·
Powers
to make Traffic Regulation Orders
·
Powers
to require the provision of information about bus services
·
Registration
of bus services
·
Bus
Companies: Limitations of powers of authorities
The
second reading of the bill takes place in the House of Lords on 8 June. It then
goes through the Committee Stage in the House of Lords, before passing to the
Commons, with an expected crucial period of debate in mid-October.
Responding,
the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has today (20 May) promised to
work with the Government and all key stakeholders to ensure that the Bus
Services Bill “produces the best possible results for passengers and bus
operators alike.”
Says
CEO Simon Posner: “The CPT and its members fully support the move towards
devolution as local bus services serve local bus markets.
“We
firmly believe that the best results for passengers are achieved when operators
work together in partnership.
“We
are convinced that passengers outside London are best served by a commercial
regime which has stemmed the decline in patronage and given bus operators the
flexibility to respond to passenger needs and aspirations, developing their
services accordingly.
“The
CPT supports the Government’s proposals in the Bill for advanced quality
partnership schemes and enhanced partnerships.
“Where
such an arrangement offers the best opportunity for growing patronage whilst
allowing operators to innovate, develop their services and retain their
commercial freedom, the industry will work with local authorities to ensure the
best possible deal is achieved for passengers.”
On
the subject of franchising he adds: “But where local authorities consider
introducing franchising CPT is pleased to see that those proposals will be
subject to robust and fair public and financial tests, and that the Bill aims
to allow small and medium enterprise (SME) operators to compete fairly.
“The
industry supports the Government’s proposal to ensure that passengers are able
to access full data on routes, timetables and fares. Much of this information
is already available through Traveline, which is a partnership between
transport operators, local authorities and passenger groups.”
The
CPT will continue to examine the provisions contained in the Bill and will
follow its progress through Parliament.
You can view the bill here. The Department of Transport has published
an overview of the Bus Services Bill which you can view here; those files need to be viewed with a
PDF reader.
The first franchised
bus service in England could start around 2018/19. Hopefully we may see more
cross boundary routes linking to various towns in the Outer London areas.
First
Group gives their reaction to the Bus Services Bill:
From First Group
First
Bus, the leading bus operator in the UK, today welcomed the stronger
arrangements to allow local government to work in partnership with operators to
improve local bus services, detailed in
today’s announcement of the Bus Services Bill.
This
Bill sets out a range of options for improving
local bus services, including a stronger role for partnerships with operators.
The
Bill also allows areas which have devolution
deals with Government to introduce franchising.
First
Bus points to a number of its local partnerships as proof that this approach is
the best way forward.
In
Bristol for example, in response to that City's support for buses, First Bus
has invested in new environmentally friendly vehicles, delivering higher
frequencies, new service links, and a strong night-time network. New ticketing
systems, simplified fares and for many, cheaper fares have also been delivered.
This has encouraged passenger growth in excess of 25%, contributing massively
to the city economy and environment.
In
Sheffield, which was the country’s first Better
Bus Area, partners have now implemented a second round of improvements that
have seen a revised network designed to meet the city’s needs and provide a
platform for growth.
In
Cornwall, despite having negotiated a devolution deal with the Government which
includes powers for bus franchising,
the council is now clear that it is working to develop its partnership with bus operators, rather than take up those powers.
Giles
Fearnley, Managing Director of First Bus, said:
"We
passionately share the aim of national Government and local councils to improve services for all passengers using
buses to help solve the UK’s chronic congestion issues, improving air quality
and reducing carbon emissions.
Our
experience in many places including Bristol, Cornwall, Sheffield and Leeds
clearly demonstrates that working in strong partnership with local government
is the best, quickest and cheapest way to improve services, and attract more
people to bus travel.
We
are delighted the strengthening of partnerships is an option for local
authorities, and look forward to working with MPs and peers to ensure that we
have legislation that delivers benefits for customers.”
FirstGroup
is delivering many highly successful bus partnerships with local authorities
across the country. Some examples include:
·
Bus Partnerships in
South Yorkshire: Voluntary Bus Partnership agreements are in place in
Sheffield, Rotherham & Doncaster bringing together South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, the area’s local
authorities and bus operators including First South Yorkshire. Revised networks are providing better
timetables and eliminating “over-bussing”, alongside infrastructure
investments to improve reliability and punctuality. Smart, lower-priced and
multi-operator tickets are making travel simpler, and new, more environmentally
friendly vehicles are being introduced in many areas.
·
Cornwall
Bus Partnership – As part of the region’s devolution deal, Cornwall Council has
committed to developing and delivering a Bus and Integrated Transport Strategy
with local partners including First Kernow. The partnership is working towards the ambition of creating a high
quality, sustainable and affordable bus system, through investment in vehicles,
infrastructure, information, and integrated ticketing and timetables.
Now we have some bad
news; WebberBus from Bridgwater, Somerset has ceased operation.
From Bus and Coach Buyer
Bridgwater,
Somerset based WebberBus has ceased operating. Somerset County Council was made
aware of the cessation of operations on
12 May 2016. In a statement, the Council said it responded immediately to
the situation, arranging for other operators to take on the company’s routes
where possible. All services taking students to schools and colleges were
covered by replacement buses on the morning of 13 May. According to press
reports, up to 100 people could lose their job.
First has stepped in
to save the majority of services, with Hatch Green Coaches and Crosville Motor
Services
taking on some work. All current school bus passes have remained valid despite
some school services passing to Bakers
Dolphin, Berry’s Coaches, Crosville, Taunton Minibuses and P&V Minibuses.
MD of First’s Buses of
Somerset operation,
Alex Carter, said, ‘Our main priority is to ensure that Somerset bus customers
are provided with a good bus service. We
are working closely with Somerset County Council to ensure that all affected
routes previously run by WebberBus are covered. Of course, we will accept WebberBus tickets up to
their expiry dates on all services so that customers are not left out of pocket.
On Thursday, we were able to provide
emergency services to colleges to ensure that no students were left stranded.
We are now working up plans with Council officials to see how we can assist
with maintaining these vital services to schools and colleges in the area.’
B&CB
has telephoned WebberBus on several occasions but had not received any comment
on the closure at the time of going to press.
Next up, we have a new
London Bus tender update which was reported on Friday 20th May 2016.
From LOTS
New contract awards
from TfL:
Tranche
548
·
59
re-awarded to Arriva London South with existing New Routemasters, PVR 28 (including 2 ex route 38). Start date
28 January 2017
·
133/N133
re-awarded to Arriva London South with
new Euro VI and existing Euro V hybrid double decks, PVR 32. Start date 21
January 2017
·
333
awarded to Arriva London South (currently London General) with new Euro VI hybrid double decks, PVR 16. Start date 21 January
2017.
Route
59 will continue to terminate and stand at Brixton Garage. Routes 133 &
N133 will use 20 Euro V hybrids currently
allocated to route 76 which will be upgraded
to Euro VI before the introduction of the ULEZ.
And
here’s the rest of the news from LOTS:
·
More
than half of the 23x LTs (745-767) for Metroline route 91 are now in service
and delivery has begun of the 21x LTs (768-788) for Abellio route 211. Of
course the Sunday operation on the 211 is already LT using buses spare from the
3 and 159.
·
At
Stagecoach East London the batch of 40 new E40Ds (10308-347) is almost complete
with just two of Barking’s and five of Romford’s outstanding.
·
At
Abellio their next big day comes next Saturday 28th May when they take over
three routes from Metroline. All of the new E20D(MMC)s, 8142-54 (9.0m) for the
E5 and 8865-75 (10.9m) for the E7 are in stock and already at Hayes Garage,
while nine older E400s (9456-64) are due to take over the E9. On the same date
Metroline will extend the E8 to Hounslow and convert it fully to double-deck
using VWs, in the process removing the last MMs (MAN/MCV) single-decks from
passenger service.
·
The
first few (of twenty) Volvo B5TL/ MCV EviSeti part open top buses (batch
125-144) are now In service at Golden Tours in London. They will replace the
dual door Tridents. Carousel’s latest three StreetLites (407/8/9) in blue
livery are due into service in the coming week at High Wycombe on the Park and
Ride service, allowing the red StreetLites used thereon so far to join their
sisters on the A40/740/730 group of routes.
Hopefully, with the Bus Services bill it will allow local
authorities to regulate bus operators to buy more low emission buses to enable cleaner air for the local town,
helping to combat harmful diesel emissions.
With
the new London Mayor, at least he's regulated bus operators to buy only hybrid
or zero emission double-decker buses; the deadline is 2018 for the Ultra Low
Emission Zone (ULEZ). The new plans also
include extending the ULEZ to most of
the inner London area and implement it in 2018, two years earlier; you
can view more on my previous article here.
Lastly, an update from
TfL about extending London Overground services:
From TFL
London
Overground customers are now benefiting from an increase in evening services
after extra trains were added to a number of routes on the network.
Demand
has continued to grow on the London Overground, particularly at night, and to
meet this services on the East London line have been increased from two to four
trains per hour between 22:00 and 23:30, on the following routes:
·
Dalston
Junction to New Cross
·
Highbury
& Islington to West Croydon
·
Highbury
& Islington to Crystal Palace
·
Dalston
Junction to Clapham Junction
The
changes, introduced this week, follow improvements completed at the end of 2015
where much of the London Overground network went from four to five carriage
trains, increasing capacity by 25 per cent.
Mike
Stubbs, Director of London Overground, said: `This is great news for our
customers. The East London line is becoming increasingly popular, particularly
at night, with many enjoying what London has to offer. To meet this increase in
demand we have boosted frequency by 50 per cent on some late night services,
significantly increasing capacity.'
Earlier
this year TfL announced that Arriva will take over from existing operator LOROL
in November 2016 to operate the London Overground network, and will support TfL
in delivering further improvements for customers on the already hugely popular
network. These will include modernised stations and more frequent services, the
first of which is planned on the North London line. New trains will also be
introduced in 2018, transforming journeys on London Overground routes out of
Liverpool Street and on the Gospel Oak to Barking line.
That’s all I have for
you at the moment so don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google
Plus which is @CLondoner92
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Image attribution
By Geof Sheppard - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43259442