BUS SERVICES BILL

A mendments to the Bus Services Bill are now being considered by MPs in the House of Commons, after having gone through the House of Lords. The Bus Services Bill will grant local authorities the power to agree with bus companies how local bus services should be organised, known as an “enhanced partnership”. Currently bus companies can run or stop operating routes as they please. The proposed changes are an acknowledgement that the current deregulated system is failing. However the changes are an attempt to patch up the commercially-operated model whilst discouraging local authorities from owning and running bus services themselves. Under the bill, where a local authority can’t agree how services should be operated, the authority could have the option to apply to the Department for Transport for additional powers for “franchising”. Under franchising - as in the rail sector – service frequency and other operational matters would be set by the local authority. Bus companies would then be invited to bid to run those services. Bus services have, until recently, been growing in London under franchising. The fact that bus services are growing does not necessarily have much to do with the franchising model. It is much more to do with other factors such as population growth in parts of the capital which don’t have Tube stations such as Hackney. The union is concerned about the disruption to workers especially from franchising as it will necessarily involve companies no longer operating in certain areas. Although TUPE theoretically protects workers’ terms and conditions (other than pensions), in practice, transferred workers are often vulnerable to unwelcome changes in their employment conditions and status. Franchising will, at least at the start, be unusual. If it has a chance of having a positive impact, it will most likely to occur in thriving urban areas where car ownership is low - such as Manchester. However, over time franchising could operate across many other parts of the country less suited to the model, such as suburban or rural areas. As a result of a fashion for devolving power from central government to local areas, significant authorities such as Cornwall Council and directly elected mayors – elections for new mayors are being held in May 2017 – will be invited to apply for franchising powers. RMT assesses that these elections are an important opportunity to lobby candidates to not to bring in franchising. While the Bus Services Bill remains before Parliament, there is some possibility of making amendments to the benefit of bus workers. The union has raised concerns with Labour politicians in Parliament, presenting amendments for them to table which the union commissioned from specialist lawyers. The union has also been lobbying government to take into account concerns and have met with officials at the Department for Transport, including at ministerial level, in order to understand their proposals and to explain resistance. As a result workers will now have to be consulted prior to a local authority inviting bus companies to bid for franchises. The union helped mobilise the House of Lords to overturn provisions of the new bill which would have prevented local authorities from setting up new companies to run bus services themselves. But the government is seeking to reinstate the prohibition on new municipally- owned services. RMT remains focussed on TUPE and pension protection following a transfer arising from a provision of the Bus Services Bill and raising the profile of bus drivers’ safety, demanding more frequent breaks and universal access for workers to “CIRAS” anonymous safety reporting system. The government has agreed to extend the notice which companies must give before they quit a service. However, the maximum notice proposed is just 112 days. The union has persuaded the government about the importance of universal access to the “CIRAS” anonymous safety reporting system. However, whether that will be mandated under the bill is currently unclear. The government also acknowledges concerns over the issue of rest breaks. However it declines to introduce any legislative/ regulatory changes on the basis that to do so would impose an unreasonable burden on industry. The bill is not yet law and its provisions are not settled so RMT will continue the fight to ensure that bus workers’ interests are protected. Parliamentary bill reveals that the current deregulated system for delivering bus services is not working RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2017 :: RMTnews 18 BUS SERVICES BILL