WHERE NOW FOR BUSES?

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2024 :: RMTnews 16 RMT has welcomed the Labour government’s plans, set out in the forthcoming Better Buses Bill, to give local transport authorities far greater control of local bus services through public ownership or franchising. As RMT bus worker members will know all too well, decades of deregulation and privatisation, introduced by the Tory government in the 1980s has led to a significant decline in the bus sector. Services have been slashed and fares have soared, whilst bus workers’ pay and conditions have been stifled and working hours are often excessively high. At the same time, the private bus operators have been able to pay out massive dividends to their shareholders, and simply cut any services not deemed profitable. They are only able to generate these profits because of the high level of national and local government subsidy paid to the bus companies meaning that passengers and taxpayers are funding the private bus companies’ profits. In 2021, the then Tory government published its first national bus strategy, which did acknowledge the problems inherent in the bus sector. Yet it failed to deliver any meaningful improvements, including because it prioritised Enhanced Partnership agreements between local authorities and operators, thus protecting the deregulated and commercial framework. Furthermore, funding allocation varied significantly between local authorities, thus exacerbating the postcode lottery in local bus service provision. The strategy also failed to repeal the Tories’ ideological ban on new municipal bus companies. RMT policy calls for the reversal of deregulation and privatisation, and for all local authorities to receive sufficient ring-fenced funding to deliver their bus services via a publicly owned municipal bus company. Franchising, under which local authorities can specify services, routes, fares etc, may act as a stepping stone towards full municipal ownership. Aside from London, the only other area that has franchised so far is Manchester, and the union will be working with the TUC to learn lessons from this process. The Labour government has set out its plan for Better Buses and will be introducing a new Bill in this Parliament to achieve its plans, which include: • Removing the ban on municipal bus companies. • Giving all local authorities automatic franchising powers and speeding up the franchising process. • Reforming bus funding. • Additional steps to safeguard local bus networks. RMT welcome’s Labour’s recognition of the vital role WHERE NOW FOR BUSES? Union calls for action ahead of Labour’s much- anticipated Better Buses Bill PETITION: Campaigners from Better Buses for West Yorkshire including trade unions RMT, Unite, Unison and Calderdale Trades council gathered earlier this year to hand in a 12,000 strong petition to take West Yorkshire buses under public control