Bus services could be seized from private providers and put into public ownership if sufficient improvements and investment are not made, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire’s mayor has warned.
Claire Ward, Labour’s East Midlands Mayor, said continued public dismay with unreliable, irregular and inconsistent bus services, underserved areas, and a lack of widespread electric vehicles are top of her agenda.
Ms Ward had been opposed to the idea of bus “franchising” during her 2024 election campaign, in part due to the time it would take to achieve, extending beyond a four-year term in office, and the fact that the role would not include transport duties for two years.
Instead, it was to primarily focus on an “enhanced partnership”, working closely with firms to achieve improvements and value for money.
The enhanced partnership approach had been the strategy chosen by Derbyshire County Council when, in 2022, it bid for £47 million in national bus investment money, targeting keeping fares lower, continuing the subsidy of key rural routes, as well as installing more bus stops and digital real-time display boards.
However, Ms Ward said: “I was very clear in the election that I wasn’t promising bus franchising for a reason.
“What I wanted to do was have an enhanced partnership to get better and more from the existing bus companies, using the money we have to unlock other opportunities and ensuring we get some changes and improvements to buses more immediately rather than waiting years for franchising; it would take years and a lot of money.
“We are going to continue with an enhanced partnership and work with the bus operators for now.
“I have been very clear to everybody that the option of franchising still remains and, if we don’t see the improvements over the next few years with the enhanced partnership, then we can still look at franchising.
“I want to make sure people get really tangible changes and improvements from their bus services, and I think an enhanced partnership is the way to do that.
“I will be talking to the bus companies about my expectations of the services that they deliver and of the value for customers, and I want to see not just improvements in the routes but also improvements in the actual buses as well.
“People expect good, clean and reliable buses, with timings available, that actually turn up when they are expected.”
Public transport duties, including buses, bus stations and bus stops, passed to the East Midlands Combined County Authority – led by Ms Ward – in October from the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire county councils and Derby and Nottingham city councils.
All remaining highways duties, such as potholes and road repairs, remain with the county and city councils, but with wider access to funding being handed to the Mayor and then distributed accordingly to the four councils.