Back Our Buses: South Yorkshire bus franchising plans could be approved this year, says Mayor Oliver Coppard

The scheme to bring South Yorkshire’s buses back under public control is one step closer, as mayor Oliver Coppard states the authority is going through the process "as quick as we are legally able to".

Mayor Oliver Coppard has today (March 4) announced that the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has concluded the franchising assessment, which states that buses in the region should be under public control, with depots and fleet owned by the mayoral combined authority (MCA).

The franchising assessment report is subject to approval at an MCA board meeting on March 12. If it is approved, the next step is for the MCA to obtain a report from an independent auditor in order to proceed with the franchising scheme.

Then a 12-week public consultation must be run to ensure that local passengers, businesses and transport providers can have their say before the MCA takes the decision as to whether to implement the scheme. It is hoped that the final decision will be made by the end of the year.

It comes at the same time as The Star, in partnership with Mr Coppard, is running the ‘Back Our Buses’ campaign, calling on the government to give South Yorkshire a fair deal of revenue funding for the buses, in line with neighbouring regions. South Yorkshire receives just over £10 per person of government funding for buses, while West Yorkshire receives almost £40, Greater Manchester receives £39, and West Midlands receive £36.

Mr Coppard said: "At next week's MCA Board meeting, we will be taking a big decision about the future of our buses; the next big step towards radically transforming how buses work in South Yorkshire.

"Right now our bus services are in a spiral of decline. That's not just a disaster for our economy, or our environment, it's denying opportunity to people right across our communities.

"That's why I have always been committed to radically improving our public transport network; because ultimately if we want people to stay near and go far in South Yorkshire, we need a better public transport system. We are already getting the tram back under public control, and now this is another huge step towards us getting better buses and getting back the world class bus system we once had."

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What model is currently being used for the bus service in South Yorkshire?

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is currently using an enhanced partnership model. While this sees the MCA work with private bus operators to create improvements, it does not give it the powers to create new routes. 

Mr Coppard described the bus network as being in a "spiral of decline". He said: "The bus services are not making enough money from the services that they do run, therefore they can’t invest in new services. We’re in a spiral of decline where bus services get worse, so fewer and fewer people get the bus. Then the bus services get worse, and fewer and fewer people get the bus.

“At the moment the only thing that we can legally do is step in and pay bus companies when they are not prepared to run bus services for profit. But as you can imagine we don’t have the money to run as many of those vital services as we would like."

The MCA is currently spending around £21m on these tendered services, but Mr Coppard said despite the MCA putting more money into the system, the overall network mileage has continued to shrink. Over the past decade, bus mileage in South Yorkshire has declined by 42 per cent.

What will franchising the bus service mean in South Yorkshire?

South Yorkshire’s bus services used to be under public control until they were privatised in 1986. Mr Coppard said this triggered a "steady decline".

Under bus franchising, this would take the power away from private bus companies, and give the authority the power to take control of bus routes, timetables and fares, and create an integrated transport system. It is a system used in London, and more recently ruled out in Manchester.

The mayor believes this 'radical transformation' would be the best way to upgrade the "broken" and "strained" bus system back to its former "world class" glory.

He said: "I want us to have nothing less than a world class, fully integrated public transport system connecting up our buses, trams, trains and active travel routes, so we can give everybody choice and freedom about how to travel and move across South Yorkshire.

"Next week's meeting will allow us to take the next big step towards bus reform and if the MCA Board agree, we will then move to an independent audit; the next stage in the process."