WHAT BUS WORKERS SAY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2019 :: RMTnews 16 GOVERNMENT POLICY Over 80 per cent of bus workers said that they were unaware of any overnment policies that support and protect bus services. Only two per cent thought that the government had good policies for the bus industry. 84 per cent of bus workers believed bus services should be publicly owned. WHAT BUS WORKERS SAY RMT has conducted a survey of bus workers and received over 200 written responses in just one day. The common thread of all the responses is that buses are in decline because they are run for private profit and not public service. Here is just a small selection. Bus usage is in serious decline because it’s no longer a public service. 99% of owners/operators are only interested in profits. Having been in the bus industry in London and then working outside insmaller towns and cities the vast differences in services are abysmal. Since deregulation in 1976 the bus sector was due to be operated for competitiveness only for the bigger conglomerates to take over smaller firms. This has been farcical and deregulation has done nothing for the travelling public. Transport should be re-nationalised. Only run at profitable time local council funding almost non-existent. I worked industry when it was nationalised buses ran 24/7 7days a week.” The government don’t really care about the bus industry so therefore leave it to incompetent fat cats in the private sector to slash services. PROFITS BEFORE SERVICES Over half of bus workers believe that the availability and reliability of services is the most important factor affecting bus decline. 72 per cent of bus workers believe the bus company they work for is more interested in making a profit than providing a service. My company has cut all country routes that do not make a profit instead of using some of the profits from the many commercially viable routes. They need to stop thinking about profit as first and foremost. Cut backs within the company makes it harder to keep buses on the road. When a repair needs doing then it should get done and not thinking about the budget. We have a fleet of buses that are less than 12 months old yet they are breaking down. Companies only interested in the profitable routes. Prepared to flood profitable routes with buses at cheap fare rates. Put fares up ridiculously high on country routes to make sure they don't get used then kill them off. The private companies cherry pick what they think will make profit and ditch the rest regardless of community needs and the