Franchising is a chance to rebuild Yorkshire’s buses - Dr Maya Singer Hobbs
We were told in the 1980s that deregulation would introduce competition into the market to improve buses. But 40 years later, it’s clear that this approach hasn’t worked. This was exacerbated by austerity, where local government had less money to support local services. Between 2011 and 2023, the number of bus miles driven per person in England dropped by almost 30 per cent and in 2023, over one billion fewer bus trips were taken than in 2011. These aren’t just numbers on a page, this translates to people unable to get to work, school or doctors appointments.
The good news is that better buses are in tantalising reach. Devolution means that all of Yorkshire will soon have mayoral combined authorities who could choose to return buses to local control and set about prioritising people over profit, protecting people from the unpredictability of an unregulated sector, as seen with the Arriva bus cuts last year. Mayor Tracy Brabin has already said she plans to take control of West Yorkshire’s buses, while Mayors Oliver Coppard and David Skaith are looking into it. All eyes will be on Hull and East Yorkshire’s Mayoral candidates to deliver similar pledges.
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Hide AdBut buses mean different things to different places. Yorkshire is over 11 times the size of Greater Manchester, and what works in Bradford won’t necessarily work in Bridlington. Rural areas, in particular, pose a challenge. One of the great advantages of a franchised approach is that more profitable routes can cross-subsidise those that are valued by communities but don’t make a profit. This allows mayors or other operators to deliver routes where demand is low, but the need is high. The devolution agenda, combined with franchising, means there’s an opportunity for the Yorkshire mayors to work together to deliver a bus network that covers the whole region.


Under the current operating system, the government provides financial support for network operators to deliver so-called “social and economically necessary bus services”. However, whether these services meet the needs of local people remains to be seen. The operators are driven predominantly by profit rather than the needs of residents, meaning routes might meet the minimum standard, but don’t prove useful for local people. Mayors will have to grapple with similar problems in a franchised system, balancing profitability, regularity, reliability, and fares in those places where demand is low but the need is high.
Of course, the journey to better buses won’t end by simply bringing them under public control – that’s just a good start. Leaders must also encourage people to use them. Andy Burnham called for Mancunians to "use it or lose it" with respect to the local £2 fare cap. Transport for Greater Manchester has invested significantly in bus priority lanes, aiming to make buses the logical choice for journeys into the region. But while I sat in traffic on the tram in South Manchester earlier this week, I wondered whether providing a good service will be enough? It remains to be seen whether enough people will be persuaded to take the bus, rather than driving, to keep fares capped at £2 long-term.
Greater Manchester’s journey to fully franchising its buses highlighted how complex the process can be, facing legal challenges, operational difficulties and significant expense. It highlights how there is a clear role for national government in ensuring the success of franchising.
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Hide AdThe first step, devolving power to mayors and local areas is already underway. The second step requires national government to make sure the process is clear and streamlined, alongside providing support to other local leaders deciding to undertake franchising themselves.
The third step is providing investment. Greater Manchester estimates that the administrative cost of franchising has been millions of pounds. Local areas didn’t have a choice about deregulation, but they paid the price in lower quality bus services, and are having to pay again to undo that damage. We recommend that the government provide financial support to places that are seeking to franchise their bus services, and providing long-term funding settlements for local areas would reassure local leaders considering franchising.
The final step is using franchising as an opportunity to accelerate decarbonisation and support the roll-out of zero emission buses. This has two benefits, the first is helping meet legally binding emissions targets, and the second is improving air quality, with all the health benefits associated with that. To do this, the government must provide investment in zero emission buses and setting high standards.
Franchising is a chance to rebuild Yorkshire’s buses around the needs of its people, but we’ll need creative thinking to get it right.
Dr Maya Singer Hobbs is a senior research fellow at IPPR.
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