Bus operators call on West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin to abandon plans to bring buses under public control

The Labour mayor said she is looking to launch a London-style franchising scheme by 2027, which would make services across the region more reliable and more affordable.

The move would see West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), the taxpayer funded organisation which she runs, take full control of the bus network so it can make decisions about routes, services and fares.

Ms Brabin, who is standing for re-election next year, has said private operators which are “focused on satisfying shareholders” have driven passengers away in recent years, by running unreliable services and cutting routes which do not generate a significant profit.

However, First Bus has proposed another approach to franchising, which is known as an “enhanced partnership plus”.

The proposal, which has been backed by other private operators, would allow them to continue to run services and work in partnership with WYCA to make decisions about routes, services and fares.

The operators claim it would allow Ms Brabin to deliver her objectives – of making services cheaper, greener, more frequent and more reliable – but also be more cost effective for the taxpayer, easier to deliver and less risky.

At a meeting next week, senior members of WYCA will decide whether it should press ahead with the mayor’s franchising plans or consider the enhanced partnership plus.

Ms Brabin will make a final decision in March, following a public consultation and an independent audit.

It comes as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is working to bring all buses in his region back under public control by 2025, as part of his Bee Network.

In a report, WYCA said the enhanced partnership plus option is being considered as part of an assessment and it is having “ongoing discussions with local bus operators about what could be achieved”.

It said that approach “offers significant improvements” to the current model but “delivering it remains subject to further and ongoing operator agreement and establishment of delivery mechanisms”.

The organisation has previously stated that franchising will allow it to make decisions "in the interests of local bus users", but it will require “significant” investment and it is only expected to “slow the rate of decline” in passenger numbers.

Operators across the country claim they have been forced to cut services in recent months, because they have been struggling to cover their costs since passenger numbers plummeted during the pandemic.

The Government has provided £2bn of support to operators during the pandemic, to help them protect services, and recently announced it will hand out another £300m over the next two years.

In West Yorkshire, Ms Brabin has been working to improve services and increase passenger numbers, since securing almost £70m of Government funding for an ambitious bus service improvement plan.

Around £30m is due to be spent on upgrading the bus network and introducing new services on a number of routes, to make them more frequent and more reliable.

As part of the bus service improvement plan, operators have also capped single fares at £2 and day passes at £4.50 since September 2022, in exchange for around £1.2m of subsidies each month.

WYCA said passengers made 7.2m journeys using these discounted fares between September and December last year and they saved around £3.4m. However, overall bus usage in West Yorkshire has returned to just 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

The number of journeys made in the region fell from around 170m in 2009 to 133m in 2019/20.