Buses Bill

[Barney]

RE: Buses Bill

(19/05/2016 21:07)Dentonian Wrote:  The Elections may well be next year. However, the Bus Franchising will be one of many things on his/her agenda. In addition, there will be a lot of work to be done by TFGM alongside their existing work (with few additional resources), so it is expected it will take a long time to get a large network organised ready for Franchising, including a revised, simpler and more equitable fares regime. There will then be the process itself, with Operators bidding for the seperate franchises, proper assessments made and Operators given plenty of time to adjust their ops to suit larger or smaller commitments. Plus, current thinking is that franchising would be phased in over a period of a year or two. Presumably, they will start with Districts eg. Bolton/Bury or Tameside/Stockport, on the basis that these networks would be more "self contained" and that the poorer suburbs need improving more urgently. Last estimate I heard was FY "2021/22", but again, I stress this is purely the thinking in GM - Greater Liverpool and other City Regions might have different timelines

The 1985 Transport Act (bus deregulation) was fully implemented on 26th October 1986 across the whole of Great Britain except for London which introduced franchising. This was at a time when computers, spread sheets and data bases were in their infancy and electronic communication in the workplace consisted of a telephone.

In this day and age with modern technology there is no reason why the new mayoral powers re bus services couldn't be implemented within a year of a mayor being elected. After all, everyone in the bus industry has known that this was coming for ages.