Councils know that public transport is key to unlocking so many of the agendas that matter to residents, businesses and public bodies. Getting more people onto buses will reduce our carbon emissions, improve our air quality and get people walking and wheeling to and from the bus stop. We also know that people on lower income use buses most, relying on them in many cases. Ensuring that all communities are well served by a reliable and affordable bus service helps everyone, but especially those who are the most marginalised in society.
Despite the importance of buses in supporting local priorities they have been in decline in recent decades. For too long councils have lacked a clear way to be directly involved and influential in local bus services, and as a result local capacity has faded and the powerful, positive but intangible influence of civic leadership, that could reach into the full range of local government decision making – from housing to public health - was lost, and at great cost, as ridership declined too. We need to address this decline if we are to achieve our ambitions for climate change, air quality and public health and wellbeing.
Recovery of bus services cannot simply be an attempt to rebuild what has gone before the pandemic; simply addressing the long-term decline and going back to what we had before and expecting a different set of results is not a responsible way to govern.
We must therefore use councils’ and central governments’ funding, infrastructure and traffic powers to work in partnership with public transport providers.
Only councils can co-ordinate policy at the local level and suit the circumstances of the hugely diverse bus markets operating across the country. Councils want to play a greater role in securing the right set of transport and place-shaping policies we need for a meaningful recovery. Bus networks do not exist in isolation but depend on wider transport and development policy. Demand responsive transport, active travel, escooters, car clubs, taxi services, alongside decisions about sites for new housing or commercial development, etc. are all part of the mix, and only councils can co-ordinate each by taking a lead in all.
This new and greater role for councils is exactly why the BCoE is so important. I’m looking forward to playing my part on the BCoE advisory board – ensuring that the new centre meets the needs of decision takers in councils, raising awareness of its existence across the sector and helping to steer its development so that it becomes a genuinely valuable resource for everyone that has a stake in the future of successful bus networks.
Capacity and capability have been hollowed out in many areas along with bus services. Hence in my substantive role at the LGA I will of course continue to lobby for greater and smarter government investment and faster reform of policy as set out in the national bus strategy. But the answer to the future of buses has to be a joint endeavour, and the BCoE needs to be an important part of the solution.
Kamal Panchal
Senior Adviser (Transport policy)
Local Government Association