Published on LocalGov by Laura Sharman 19 August 2015

Local Authorities should be allowed to join forces to franchise commercial bus services and pool budgets, according to a report from think tank IPPR.

In a new report, the think tank argues that bus services has been ‘decimated’ in many towns and rural areas, which has hit pensioners particularly hard.

It is calling on the Government to use the Buses Bill, announced in the Queen’s speech, to give councils the power to create new Total Transport Authorities so they have the capacity and resource to protect and extend bus services.

As well as giving local authorities franchising powers and enabling them to pool revenue and capital expenditure, the report says it would also drive innovations in smart-ticketing and Uber-style ‘dial-a-ride’ initiatives.

‘The lack of commercially viable bus services in towns and rural areas, combined with the cuts to local government funding for non-commercial routes, has meant a downward spiral of higher fares, lower patronage and poorer services in many areas,’ said Luke Rakes, IPPR research fellow.

‘London-style franchising could be an important part of the solution for many areas, but isn’t the only approach. It has worked effectively in London for 15 years and is now being adopted in Greater Manchester and possibly in Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire and Cornwall.

‘Its main advantage is to retain fare revenue within a locality and allow it to be used more strategically to cross-subsidise uncommercial routes. Franchising also allows greater democratic accountability over fares, services and routes, and makes network integration, multi-operator smart ticketing and data sharing more viable.’