news story

16th October 2007

West MP to Challenge Minister over Local Bus Services

Northavon MP Steve Webb will this week lead a debate at Westminster over the failings of bus services in the West. He will ask Transport minister Rosie Winterton to respond to complaints from his younger constituents about bus fares, and from older residents about the lack of services in smaller towns and villages.

The MP is responding in particular to comments made by young constituents via the MP's site on the 'Facebook' website which have been dominated by complaints about the cost of bus services.

Steve Webb said:

"For local people of all ages, bus services are totally inadequate. Young people tell me that they are too expensive. Commuters tell me that they are too slow, too infrequent and too unreliable. Older people tell me that there simply aren't enough services in our smaller towns and villages nor to the places they want to go to.

"The root of the problem is that buses are run purely for private profit. First Bus have a near monopoly of bus services across large parts of our area, and this means they can pick and choose only the most profitable routes, and can charge whatever fares they think they can get away with. This is no basis for a public service.

"One of the few places in Britain where bus usage has been rising has been in London, where the local authority has much more power to tell bus companies what to do. I believe that our local councils should have the same power".

"We also need more frequent services, better information for passengers and a passenger watchdog with 'teeth' to deal with complaints."

The MP will say in the debate that public transport should be a public service, not simply another opportunity for private firms to make money.

Whereas in the UK around 90% of the funding for bus services comes directly from bus fares, in some European countries less than a third of the cost is met from fares, with local government making a much bigger contributions, making fares more affordable and giving local people a greater say over services.