Removing through traffic is probably a good thing in and of itself for several reasons... but only if there's a suitable alternative for that traffic. Likewise encouraging bus use is also a good thing, but only if the service is reliable, affordable and easy to navigate. This means through-ticketing across different operators (by default rather than at a premium), and proper enforcement of standards by traffic commissioners with sharp teeth.
This.
Preston doesn't have a ring road. The only thing that could be described as a ring road goes straight through the city centre. Therefore any attempts to reduce through traffic are going to cause problems. I have no problem with "encouraging" bus use but the way it is being done in Preston isn't encouragement. It is almost "use the bus or stay out of Preston" and that, to a significant number of people including myself, will mean staying out of the centre of Preston unless I have absolutely no other alternatives, and that isn't healthy for the city centre.
Quite. Restricting car use in any meaningful way would be electoral suicide.
I suspect you are right, it needed action years ago. The network in many areas has been cut back and continues to be cut back to such an extent that it will get you to work, school or college and back, and to the shops, not necessarily when you want to go, so be prepared to hang around, and not in the evening or on a Sunday. Large towns and cities will be ok (for now) but buses are too infrequent and often too indirect in much of the country and it is now imbued into most people's psyche that they have to learn to drive.
To be honest I think that any government that tries to eliminate petrol driven cars is committing electoral suicide. An awful lot of people regard the car as an essential of life.
Why would changing the owners of the buses making more people use them?
Regulation isn't the same thing as changing the ownership - the regulated buses in London are owned by many of the same groups that operate de-regulated buses elsewhere.
Exactly this. No bus network will ever be able to replicate the freedom and convenience offered by a car. That why bus usage has declined for decades, both with and without regulation.
Regulation should allow bus services to be operated in the commercial interests of the bus network as a whole, and thereby provide a better and more joined up service, rather than the individual operators commercial interests. A better and more joined up service should attract more users. Also, additional funding should be easier to come by (for more better services and/or fare reductions in turn attracting more users) , as its application would be easier to administer and less suspicion about the effectiveness of its use. At least that is the theory. Whether a public authority could replicate this in practice is another matter.
www.theguardian.com
The above is true. In adition the major shopping areas around the edge of the town - Blackpool Road, Walton le Dale - have wholly inadequate bus services and the huge car parks are usually full. The town centre retail is dieing as I have seen in the last couple of weeks. Seems the bus services are irrelevant to the future of the town centre and out of town retail shopping centres.
Most large cities these days seem to have some form of multi operator ticketing which makes bus travel relatively easy and reasonably priced within the city boundary. The problem then comes if you need to travel outside of the city ticket area boundary.
I'm generally in favour of regulation or franchising but this on its own won't solve the issues facing the industry - traffic congestion, growth of low-density suburban sprawl difficult to serve by bus, pressure on costs (wages, fuel). Outside London most bus users are in three groups - concessionary pass holders, young mothers and students. How to attract the 25 to 60 age group must be a key to increasing patronage. Franchising will mean multi-operator ticketing, interavailable return tickets etc. and better information but it is likely to come at a much higher cost than the current deregulated system.
The title of this thread is ‘What must be done to make buses more relevant outside London?’
Good point about the ENCTS pass, free passes only available in most parts of England when you reach 66, shortly to become 67.
The Government wants retirement dates pushed back and back (as we are living longer, the ageing population means fewer younger workers and therefore workforce shortages, and pensioner benefits more and more difficult to fund). Reversing this by giving workers free travel from 60 is highly unlikely. 'Levelling up' by changing the London age is far more likely.
I had a bus ride round Leeds the other week. On the 7 much of the route had speed bumps which were quite unpleasant. And it seemed so slow compared to the 70 of my youth(1). And the 50A down Burley Rd found every kerb gulley, all of which had dropped. So every 30 yards, 'Bang - Rattle!'
I thought London's freedom pass age was set by local government?
