MPs agree to overturn ban on councils setting up bus companies

A 2017 ban on councils setting up their own bus companies will be repealed, MPs have agreed.

They voted by 362 to 87, majority 275, to approve the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill, which has now cleared both Houses of Parliament.

As part of the Bill, which is in its final stages before becoming law, town halls are set to gain powers to make it more difficult for bus companies to pull routes which are considered “socially necessary”.

At third reading, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told the Commons: “After 40 years of failed deregulation, after seeing services cut, routes axed, and fares rise, we are finally taking our lifeline bus services off life support.

“This vital legislation ushers in the biggest change to our busses in a generation. It means improved services for passengers and socially necessary routes protected, greener busses will be rolled out, faster accessibility and safety standards will be raised across the board, and busses will be integrated across local transport so it’s easier and simpler to get around.”

The Bill will require local authorities which partner with bus companies to list services which they believe are “socially necessary”, and will have to “specify requirements that apply” where an operator tries to cancel or vary a route.

Councils would also have to consider what alternatives they could bring in to “mitigate” the changes.

A ban on councils setting up their own bus companies, as part of a 2017 law, will also be repealed, and the Bill permanently removes the requirement for councils to seek consent from the Government before they can set up a London or Manchester-style franchised network.

Supporting the Bill, independent MP Chris Hinchliff, who had the Labour whip suspended after breaches of party discipline, said: “We can now say in complete confidence that the privatisation and deregulation of our bus services has been a catastrophic failure for rural towns and villages like those across North East Hertfordshire.

“Decades of dogmatic adherence to flawed ideology has created vast public transport deserts where residents have no meaningful alternative to driving a car.

“The social costs of this failure have been profound – more and more traffic that stifles our communities and chokes our rivers and air with life-limiting pollution, young people cut off from education and employment, forced to leave their homes to get on in life, our elderly trapped in loneliness and isolation, which should be a source of shame for our entire nation.”

Liberal Democrat MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire Charlotte Cane told the Commons that buses in her “rural constituency” are “very infrequent”, with “no Sunday bus services at all” in some areas.

She said: “I enjoy a good tale about mythological creatures like centaurs and the Minotaur, but unfortunately, for some of my constituents, seeing a bus is almost as likely as seeing one of them.”

Referring to Ely Cathedral, which has a 66m-high West Tower, Ms Cane added: “We have one of the greatest cathedrals in the world, and many of my residents can’t get to it for Sunday worship – some of my villages have no buses at all.”

Conservative shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew warned that the Bill “risks exposing local transport authorities to potential bankruptcy without support from the Secretary of State”.

Transport minister Simon Lightwood replied: “This Government strongly believes that local leaders are in the best place to make decisions for their local communities.

“They know and understand their area’s specific needs and have a direct relationship with their communities.

“We do not want to increase the number of burdens on them. We must trust the local areas we’re empowering to take the right decisions for local people.”

The Conservatives had called for the Government to prepare a ban on new floating bus stops – where a cycle lane runs between the bus stop and pavement to bypass areas where buses pull in regularly – which MPs could vote on in the future.

Mr Mayhew said: “I don’t think there is a design tweak that you can make to a floating bus stop which will provide partially sighted and blind users with the security that they richly deserve when using bus services.

“And an educational campaign to remind cyclists of their duties under the Highway Code, whilst no doubt won’t do any harm, and I suggest they do it, is not going to be the solution in its own right.”

Labour MP Marsha de Cordova, who is registered blind and had called for a review of floating bus stops, warned that crossing cycle lanes to reach stops can be a “quite terrifying and a very dangerous experience” for blind and partially sighted people.

The MP for Battersea said: “It isn’t just disabled people or blind and partially sighted people, it’s the elderly and it’s families with young children with buggies.”

Mr Lightwood had earlier told MPs: “The department will publish statutory guidance on the design of floating bus stops within three months of royal ascent.

“This will be supported by additional research into the design of existing floating bus stops and how they can be improved to ensure that they are accessible.

“Active Travel England has provided funding to councils and encouraged them to review existing designs against the upcoming guidance and where required implement remediation works.”

Paul Kohler, the Liberal Democrats’ transport spokesman, added: “Badly-designed bus stops are a menace to the disabled, elderly and infirm, and in particular, the visually impaired”, and called for an assessment or retrofit programme for the bus stops.

The Bill will now return to the Lords where peers will consider the amended legislation, and if the final draft is agreed by both Houses, it will become law.