Rural Buses
Posted by Brandon Lewis, MP for Great Yarmouth, at 07:29, Thu 13 October 2011:
This is a copy of my article about rural bus funding wirtten for the ePolitix website (http://www.epolitix.com/policy/transport/transport-article/newsarticle/are-the-wheels-coming-off-our-buses/) and published ahead of my debate in the House of Commons today.
The wheels on the bus will fall off over the next few years if the government fails to reform transport funding and the Concessionary Fares Scheme.
If it does, it will be those in the shire-counties, particularly the rural areas, which will suffer the most.
The bus network creaks along, patched up with a complicated array of funding formulae and transport subsidy. Instead of giving the service a complete overhaul, when it had the opportunity, the last Labour government opened the doors and welcomed more on board with the promise of a free bus pass.
They forgot to tell these eager new passengers that the system was unfunded in the long-term. Now our buses hurtle towards the deficit-reduction pothole left behind by Labour, threatening to put many of our buses off the road permanently.
My Westminster Hall debate focussing on the funding for rural bus services is an opportunity to highlight the challenges facing our shire-counties in providing a functioning and extensive network, whilst maintaining the statutory concessionary fares scheme.
I want to start a serious discussion on how we fund these services in the future and how the system needs reform to create a viable network. Opponents claim this is an excuse to scrap the cherished free bus pass for pensioners.
Far from it, I see not only the liberating effect this has on so many but understand how vital it is for the poorest and most vulnerable pensioners.
Yet the cost of providing this social benefit is set to rise, just as funding is squeezed. Transport authorities, like Norfolk County Council, will be forced to axe subsidised services, mostly in rural areas, in order to continue providing free travel. A free pass becomes a worthless pass if there are no buses left to use it on.
Although I will use the debate to lobby ministers for a fairer funding deal for Norfolk and other shire-counties, that is not the only answer to this problem.
We should explore other policy options. Some may seem politically unpalatable, such as restricting the use of free passes or introducing a fee for their issue or a low flat-rate fare.
Yet, having aired those possibilities during a recent radio interview, I was heartened by the measured response of so many pensioners. Overwhelmingly, the responses included comments such as – Yes! I would pay £10 to get my pass or I could pay 50p for every journey I made.
Other policy options include extending the 5-year life of passes to avoid unnecessary administrative costs of reissue. Norfolk County Council will spend £0.25m reissuing passes in 2013, money better spent on maintaining rural routes.
Amending legislation to permit the use of travel passes on community transport services, including dial-a-ride and low-cost shared taxi services will encourage a more innovative approach to rural transport.
We persist in subsidising inconvenient and infrequent bus services that run almost empty of passengers when there are better, more practical alternatives. It is ridiculous that pensioners are prevented from using their pass on a more convenient service, that is responsive to passenger demands, such as a community bus scheme.
We can’t ignore the deficit pothole but we can make sure our rural transport network is roadworthy enough to bounce over it.
Comments
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Posted by colin page, 07:44, Thu 13 October 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
might i suggest that before further cuts are made to public transport , it might be better if the spot light was shone on the self effacing, self serving demi gods resident in westminster. today's little piece of glee is as follows...."Letting peers use the MPs' dining room for lunch may prove "contentious", the Commons' supervisory body has warned. The House of Commons Commission was responding to ideas to cut the £5.7m annual loss by its catering operation. It suggested further talks be held on the matter with the House of Lords to make sure MPs can also use Lords' dining facilities. It also said it would look into providing more "high street" food - such as pizza, pasta, Thai and sushi.
Please realise this is a £5.7m loss, not the cost of running the pig trough, but the loss of feeding the pigs………………this is of course on top of expenses, god forbid these demi gods should actually learn to pay for anything.
now if this money was spent on local transport and these idiots paid for their own food, you know much like ordinary people
Posted by Patricia Memess, 07:53, Thu 13 October 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Whatever the public say, you (MP's) will go your merry way, destroying life as we know it. It doesn't matter what your political persuasion is, keeping the rich in the style to which they are accustomed and the poor in their right and proper place is your goal. Of course pensioners would be happy to subsidise free travel. They have been paying all their lives, why stop now!
I realise it is not cost effective to have a referendum on each and every policy, but you have to have a mighty opinion of the Coalition government's ability if you think making pensioners pay towards the poor performing bus service is going to fix the economy.
The people that voted for you are already depressed. Pensioners are living too long and costing money. How dare we? Just because we worked long and hard and kept politicians jobs safe for years, does that mean we should be looked after in our sunshine years?
Posted by Sheila Adair, 18:39, Thu 13 October 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
maybe the journeys could be restricted to the area where you live, eg. trips to Norwich etc, should maybe be half price instead of free.