Better Transport

18 February: At Prime Minister's Questions recently, a Birmingham MP mentioned a local bus cut and Gordon Brown sarcastically said he would 'call an emergency cabinet' to look at the issue. We're telling the Prime Minister he needs to realise buses and the people who use them are important.

John Hemming MP's question was about the need for bus regulation outside London. We agree that local authorities must be able to regulate their buses - using new quality contract powers - when they need to. So we've asked the Prime Minister to prove he cares about buses by providing funding and support for the first quality contract, which is likely to be in West Yorkshire.

20 January: If you've ever thought that buses in your area could be better, now is the time to make it happen.

Local authorities have new powers to improve buses and we've just published a guide explaining what the opportunities are.

Check out our new online guide and let me know if you have any comments.

29 October: We've told the Government that Londoners shouldn't be the only ones to benefit from Oyster cards. People across the country need an easy to use travelcard that gives them a good deal on all public transport.

The Government should start by providing dedicated funding to transport authorities so they can introduce integrated smart ticketing locally.

It's so easy for people to hop into their cars and go. It needs to be just as easy to use the public transport network.

16 October: The Office of Fair Trading is planning to refer the bus market to the Competition Commission. We've told them this is a bad idea because it will make it harder for local authorities and bus companies to work together to improve things for passengers.

If local authorities and bus companies are scared of breaking competition law, they won't use the new powers they've been given in the Local Transport Act to improve buses. We agree with the OFT that the bus market isn't working properly, but the solution isn't bus wars (where buses chase each other down the street fighting for passengers). The solution is for local authorities to take responsibility for improving buses, either by working in partnership with bus companies, or by regulating the bus network.

16 October: We've responded to an inquiry on light rail with suggestions for how we can get more trams in UK cities.

15 October: The Mayor of London's plans to increase bus and tube fares and cut services show where his priorities really lie.

Bus fares will rise by 12.7% and tube fares by 3.9% in 2010 while buses and off-peak tube services in outer London will be cut. The fare rises have been introduced to raise money - an extra £125 million a year. But Boris can't be that concerned about money. He's happy to lose £50 million a year because of his decision to scrap the western extension of the congestion charge zone.

This isn't about money, it's about priorities. The Mayor's decision will make life harder for ordinary working Londoners, and will push people back into their cars in outer London, where traffic levels are already too high.

If you think Boris needs to rethink his priorities, email him at mayor@london.gov.uk

8 October: Passenger Focus is going to be the new watchdog for bus passengers, but it won't be able to stand up for them unless the Government rethinks its plans.

Passenger Focus already deals with train passengers' complaints appeals (it represents people when they aren't happy with how the train company has dealt with their complaint), but the Government doesn't want to fund it to provide the same service for bus passengers. We've told them that's not fair; bus passengers aren't second class citizens and they too must be able to turn to their watchdog for help.

We've also said that the Government must ensure that Passenger Focus provides detailed information comparing buses by local authority area and by bus company. If local campaigners have this information, it will be easier for them to hold people accountable for bad buses and make sure they improve.

7 October: We want to make sure that local authorities can regulate buses where this is needed to improve things for passengers. So we've responded to a Government consultation to make sure its guidance on quality contracts makes it realistic for these new powers to be used.

17 September: Local authorities have new powers they can use to improve buses, thanks to the Local Transport Act. But we're worried passengers will miss out because they're too scared to use them.

So we've written to Transport Minister Sadiq Khan, asking him to give authorities legal and financial back up when they try out new partnerships and contracts that haven't been tried before. And we've asked him to tell the Office of Fair Trading not to refer the local bus market to the Competition Commission. As I said in my last blog, bus wars don't help passengers. And an investigation into the market will make local authorities and bus companies nervous about using the new powers that would make a difference.

20 August: We recently ran a competition to find the most expensive bus fare in the country. But why are bus fares so high?

One of the reasons is that in some areas, a big bus company has a monopoly - passengers have no other option so fares can just keep going up.

The Office of Fair Trading today published its study looking at competition in the bus market. It concluded that more competition is needed to improve services and reduce fares.

But we're not so sure. Sometimes competition between bus companies, on the road, is a really bad idea. 'Bus wars', where buses chase each other up and down the street competing for passengers, can be very disruptive. And once the winner has driven the loser out of town, they can put up fares again anyway.

We think, where the free market isn't working, the local transport authority must step in and use its powers to improve services. That might mean regulating the bus network through quality contracts, working in partnership with bus companies or commissioning services from newer, smaller bus companies.

The Local Transport Act gave transport authorities a big opportunity to improve things for passengers. If the Government supports authorities in using these new powers, passengers might get a better deal.

20 July: If you visit many European cities, you will see quiet, clean, frequent trams instead of cars hooting at each other. But in this country, we only have a few trams because Government guidance makes it very hard to introduce them.

For example, local authorities must pay 25% of the cost of building a tram, but only 10% of the cost of a road or bus scheme.

The Government is now reviewing its guidance, so, together with the Passenger Transport Executive Group (which represents transport authorities in big cities) we've written to Transport Minister Sadiq Khan, asking him to stop discriminating against trams. More trams in our cities would improve the lives of millions of people.

10 July: Is your local bus fare the highest in the country?

High bus fares make it hard for some people to get around, and push others back into using their cars.

It's unacceptable that the green option is often too expensive; we're highlighting this issue with a competition to find the most expensive bus fare in the country.

Join in.

8 July: We've been saying for some time that people in isolated rural areas need better public transport. Now we're delighted to see the Tories pick up one of our ideas.

The Conservatives have promised £7 million if elected to pilot a national 'dial-a-taxi' scheme over 7 years. We suggested this in our report on rural transport. The scheme could mean that if you don't have a bus service you can get where you want by taxibus, if you book up to an hour in advance.

Does this mean there might be a time when people can live in the countryside without having to own a car? Maybe, but the Conservatives must be prepared to put more money into the scheme after the pilot, and taxibuses must be run in addition to normal buses, not instead of them. To stop traffic clogging up our countryside, we’re going to need more buses and more local rail, as well as more taxibuses.

3 July: We've argued that the Government should provide funding for low-carbon buses, so we're glad it has decided to help bus companies and local authorities to buy several hundred of them.

But driving produces up to three times more carbon than taking a regular bus. As we've told the Government (pdf), if it really wants to cut carbon emissions from transport, it has to make the bus a real alternative for people so they can leave their cars behind.

11 June: A tram scheme in Nottinghamshire is under threat because the newly elected Conservative councillors want to cut the Council's funding for it.

The tram extensions would really improve things for people in the area, and our local group has been campaigning to make sure they happen. I've written to Theresa Villiers, the Conservative transport spokesperson, to ask her to intervene to make sure the tram goes ahead.

8 May: The Independent has publicised a fact we've been highlighting for some time now: since Labour came to power, public transport fares have risen while the cost of motoring has fallen, undermining attempts to cut carbon emissions.

People are being priced off buses and trains and pushed into cars and planes. We're campaiging for the Government to change its ways and give people an incentive to choose low-carbon transport.

People agree with us: over half of the responses to the Government's consultation on its transport plan called for cheaper public transport fares and higher costs for motoring and aviation. The Government's response (pdf 363kb) suggests they don't want to deal with this problem. But we're not going to let them ignore it.

22 April: Today we are celebrating the launch of the new statutory bus passenger watchdog that we campaigned for.

But the Government still has work to do, if the new watchdog is to stand up for bus passengers. Passenger Focus is already the watchdog for rail passengers, and from today it will also be the watchdog for bus passengers. But it will only get half as much funding for bus as for rail. And it won't help bus passengers who are unhappy after complaining to their bus company, even though it does this for rail passengers.

So we've coordinated a joint letter from eight other NGOs to Paul Clark, the bus minister, calling for Passenger Focus to deal with complaints appeals.