Tories attack plans for public bus control in Leeds

Conservatives on Leeds City Council have spoken out against early plans which could result in bus services to be brought back under public control.
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Following the announcement last year that First Bus’s West Yorkshire operations were currently up for sale, work was commissioned by West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) to look into the possibility of taking on the service themselves.

The idea was supported in a full Leeds City Council meeting this week by leader of the city’s Green Party group Coun David Blackburn, who claimed in a motion to the authority that the ‘way forward’ was for WYCA to take over the running of the services.

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But Conservative members of the council warned that this could leave a heavy financial burden on taxpayers should bus services run at a loss in future, and urged other councillors to look at alternative ways of controlling services.

WYCA is looking into whether it can run some of the region's bus services.WYCA is looking into whether it can run some of the region's bus services.
WYCA is looking into whether it can run some of the region's bus services.

Other parties responded by accusing the Tories’ stance on buses of being ‘ideologically’ driven, with many supporting the work done by WYCA.

Presenting an amendment to Coun Blackburn’s paper, Coun Neil Buckley (Con said): “It is this public ownership obsession. You can have control over something without actually owning it.

“Let’s just say First Bus was publicly owned tomorrow by the city. The drivers would be the same, the management would be the same. The directors would be different, and there would be no shareholders – but where would the capital requirement come from? Where would the investment come from? It could only fall on the taxpayer.

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“If it was completely a public responsibility, losses would be a local liability, so Leeds people would be on the hook for any loss making buses, expenditure and pension liabilities.

“Franchising or other methods of control or influence could be the way forward.”

Local authorities like Leeds City Council have been unable to run buses since the Transport Act of 1986, which deregulated the sector and led to private companies running services.

But WYCA announced last October that it would look into the possibility of “participating” in the sale of First Bus, following an announcement it was put up for sale by its parent company in 2019.

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Seconding Coun Buckley’s amendment, Coun Trish Smith (Con) added: “We cannot support the call for buses to be brought under public ownership.

“It’s not just the fact that there would be financial implications, but we are sceptical that this would offer a silver bullet solution to all the city’s transport problems, as it’s sometimes presented.

“There are structural problems in our network that we are all aware of and cannot be solved by letting West Yorkshire Combined Authority run the buses.

“If a bus is stuck in traffic, it doesn’t really matter who owns the bus.”

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Coun Kim Groves (Lab), who is also chair of WYCA’s transport committee responded to the Conservatives’ concerns: “We need to make sure that public transport is working for the public, and we know that currently it isn’t.

“We know there are fundamental problems across the bus network across the country and there needs to be fundamental change. Part of that is involving local authorities in the bus network.

“I am pleased that WYCA has commissioned work on possible options to participate in the sale of First Bus’s service. Work is still ongoing looking into this.

“We can use lessons learned from our colleagues in Merseyside and greater Manchester. We have to have a model for the bus to work towards that actually meets demand.”

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Coun Robert Finnigan (MBI) added: “I was a teenager in the 1970s, and I was reliant on the bus service before they were deregulated. They were frequent, affordable and reliable.

“We all have to accept the deregulation of the buses in the 1980s has failed miserably. At that particular point, the idea was you’d have more competition and it would bring fares down, but that clearly has not worked.

“We need to figure out how we have a service that is frequent, affordable and reliable. We don’t see that there are any reasons other than ideological opposition to such a proposal, that would mean the council couldn’t make a better job of running buses.”

Coun Blackburn summed up, stating: “I don’t understand the Conservatives on buses.

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“As a person who has used buses all my life, the part when the county council was running the buses, they were great. We still had our problems, but it ran for the public and it ran well, and it had a joined up fare structure.

“Why we changed that, there is no logic to at all – what we put in place was something that is far, far inferior.

“I am not talking about nationalising every bus. It is a mixture of some run by us and some by private companies. It is a way of us influencing the market.

“Without us having ownership, we are banging our heads against the wall.”

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