Today Northavon MP Steve Webb used a debate in Parliament to challenge the Government over what he called the 'shambles' of public transport in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The MP led a 30 minute debate on the 'regulation of local bus services'. The Lib Dem MP called for the debate in the light of the recent cuts by First Bus, including the withdrawal of the X27 service, with no consultation and a minimum of notice. Speaking ahead of the debate, Steve Webb said:
"The way public transport is run in our area is a disgrace. We have one dominant company that provides an expensive service and cherry picks the best routes. They are happy to work with councils on the high-profile 'showcase' routes, but pick and choose the rest. Public transport used to be about public service but these days it is purely about private profit. The Government could have got tough with the bus companies through its recent Local Transport Act but instead just tweaked the rules. The new Act did nothing to stop First scrapping the X27 with little notice, and now local taxpayers are having to pay to keep the service running".
The debate raised some interesting points.
First Bus says they're not allowed to subsidise less economic routes from their profitable ones - but the Government doesn't agree. Transport Minister Paul Clark said he didn't know any legal reason why this should be so.
The Minister also said that Councils should get powers to force companies to run routes and to cap fares by the end of the year - if of course South Glos are willing to take up the challenge.
More detail on Steve Webb's blog.
Steve Webb will be talking about this on Radio Bristol at 7.30 am tomorrow morning (Wednesday 6 May)
No comments:
Post a Comment