Fewer than 50 per cent of people believe new South Yorkshire bus partnership will deliver better services, according to survey
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Transport chiefs within the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) put out a survey on the impending ‘Enhanced Partnership’ which will see closer working with big operators like First and Stagecoach.
Of more 1,200 responses – including from a wide range of South Yorkshire pressure groups – just 43 per cent think the arrangement will ‘secure additional resources and to deliver improvements to bus services’.
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Hide AdSYMCA recently approved plans to improve local bus services through a formal Enhanced Bus Partnership Scheme with bus operators, in response to the government’s National Bus Strategy (Bus Back Better).
An Enhanced Partnership for South Yorkshire will allow local leaders to work together with operators to improve ticketing, routes, and frequency of services across the region.
It will also allow SYMCA to bid for a fair share of £3 billion – now thought to be £1.2bn – of national funding pledged by government to encourage local bus use.
The consultation did not ask any opinions on franchising the service or bringing the whole network back into public control.
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Hide AdBut in the comments section at the end of the survey, ‘public ownership’, ‘low confidence’ in buses and ‘improved reliability’ featured heavily.
One respondent said: “Public transport should be run as a public service primarily.”
Another added: “Decisions about bus services should be with local people, not shareholders. This is a long time coming, if it happens. We will have to wait and see. I am not holding my breath though.”
“The service is very unreliable, plenty of people don’t use them anymore because of reliability, you can’t use them for work or education reliably,” said another.
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Hide AdThe highest positive response – at 72 per cent who either strongly agreed or agreed – came when asked if people supported the vision and ambition to transform the bus network.
Chloe Shepherd, senior programme manager at SYMCA, said: “Entering an Enhanced Partnership gives access to potential additional funding sources that are expected to be made available by government and enables collaboration between operators and the MCA through a legal framework.
“The Enhanced Partnership between the MCA, highway authorities and bus operators is a means of delivering the short-term actions set out in the MCA’s recently published Bus Service Improvement Plan.”