BRING BUSES BACK UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL

www.rmt.org.uk :: december 2006 :: RMTnews 15 A hard-hitting House of Commons’ transport select committee report has found that 20 years of bus de-regulation has led to huge falls in both passenger levels and the quality of services. The MPs’ report said that the current anarchic arrangements “cannot be made to work” and recommended greater use of regulated contracts. “The only people to gain from the deregulation and sell- off of the nation's bus networks are the privateers who have removed huge sums of public money from the industry as profits," RMT general secretary Bob Crow says. RMT warned that if the government wanted to see the bus industry play its full economic and environmental role it must take steps to bring the industry back under public control. "If the private sector is allowed to continue operating buses, it must be under rigid regulation, but ultimately the only way to ensure that buses play their proper role in an integrated transport network is to bring the industry back into public ownership," says Bob. The union points out in its submission to the transport select committee that private operators aided by public subsidy had become very rich, without any thought of social responsibilities to the communities they are meant to serve. Last year the big five operators alone pocketed nearly £275 million in profits between them - one of them with a profit margin of nearly 13 per cent - despite the continued fall in passenger numbers outside London. Bus users, often with no other means of transport, have also seen fares increase and lifeline routes cut by private operators whose only motive is profit. In contrast, bus workers have seen their incomes steadily eroded, with the average pay for a driver now just £7.71 an hour, only 57 per cent of the all- occupations average of £12.12. There is also little sign of any real competition as, in 2004, more than 25 per cent of tenders attracted only one bidder, thus increasing the leverage of that operator over the local authority. As a result, privateers routinely use their monopoly position to blackmail local authorities into parting with more public money under the perpetual threat of the axe falling on more routes. "The lie that deregulation and privatisation would bring healthy competition and with it cheaper and better bus services has been well and truly nailed by this report,” said Bob. REGULATION The example of the regulated services in London shows that only public bodies, unencumbered by shareholders and dividend payments, are prepared to make the necessary investment to encourage bus usage over the car. Transport for London was able to commit substantial money to fund extra buses, in advance of the extra people using them, in an effort to get people out of their cars. It is inconceivable that a private operator would take a similar decision. Passenger Transport Executive Group chairman Roy Wicks says that since bus services had become a “free-for- all” 20 years ago passenger numbers had halved and fares had shot up by 86 per cent. A PTEG report revealed that passenger numbers had only increased in London, by over 50 per cent, due to the fact that services in the capital were never deregulated. That means TfL can specify every detail of routes, frequency, fares and even the distinctive colour of the buses. Private firms then bid to run these routes, many of which receive public subsidy. Report author John Dodgson says that outside London companies can run whatever routes they like and often refuse to offer tickets that work on other forms of transport or to co-ordinate services with the rail network. If the government is serious about reducing levels of road transport, which contributes over 21 per cent of UK carbon emissions, it must recognise that the privatised, unregulated bus sector cannot contribute towards that goal. The London experience shows that bus regulation is preferable to the present chaotic and costly free-for-all. Ultimately, taking the taking the industry back into public ownership would remove the need for the taxpayer to subsidise huge private sector profits and contribute towards a fully-integrated public transport sector. BRING BUSES BACK UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL Following a damning report charting two decades of failure by the privatised bus industry, RMT calls for a return to public ownership REGULATION: In London local authorities can control the routes, regularity and fares for bus contracts Picture copyright: Jessherd/reportdigital