Regulation is the Answer to Burwell's Bus Problems (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Regulation is the Answer to Burwell's Bus Problems

March 3, 2010 6:45 PM
In Burwell Bulletin

Some readers may remember that just over 30 years ago Burwell had its very own bus company - Burwell and District Motor Services. The brown and cream buses linked Burwell to Cambridge and Newmarket, Soham and Ely and many of the villages around it. Then in 1979 the brothers who owned it wanted to retire and sold it to Eastern Counties the then nationalised bus company.

In those days local bus services were highly regulated, with the onus on those wanting to run a new service having to prove to the local traffic commissioner there was a need for it, while existing operators, even the national bus company, had to seek the traffic commissioner's approval for any changes, including fares. There was no such thing as a "commercial"service and pirate operators couldn't undermine socially necessary services.

Of course this very restrictive regime prevented innovation and gave a monopoly to existing operators, most of whom were nationalised or council owned. But in their haste to privatise everything the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher threw out the baby with the bath water.

The Conservatives brought in deregulation and privatisation of local buses. But as usual with the Tories their purpose wasn't so much to improve services, but to allow business people to exploit the market. A free for all ended with five big multi national transport companies running nearly all our local buses, beyond the reach of local democracy.

In London, mainly due to the fact that they wanted to ensure the iconic red London bus was preserved, a form of privatised regulation was kept, with control of all services resting with the elected Mayor. Needless to say, while bus patronage has declined in the rest of country, it has actually increased in London, despite a falling population, due mainly to the fact that the buses are run for the community and not for profit.

That's why a Liberal Democrat government would impose bus regulation similar to the London model on the rest of the country. So instead of Burwell residents being at the mercy of Stagecoach and its shareholders, Stagecoach would have to run buses when we want them. And if they didn't want to, there'd be someone else who would. And they won't be allowed to undermine the socially needed services, which they can do at present.

The county council has now taken £1 million from its transport pot for the mis-guided busway and the cuts Stagecoach is making to its commercial routes is also linked to the delay in the opening of the busway. With less money available for local rural bus services there is no way that the commercial journeys dropped by Stagecoach can now be picked up by the county council, without someone else losing out.

When the Labour government came to power in 1997 it said it would sort out the Tory transport mess, but as we can all see 13 years on its only got worse and the only people benefiting are the shareholders of Stagecoach.