West midlands bus franchising

[Wumpty]

For those who dont want to read the whole thing heres some of the statutory stakeholders comments
WMCA Transport Operators

Travel Express
4.9 Travel Express expressed that it opposes the introduction of the Proposed Franchising

And the "No Sh1t Sherlock Award" for objections to bus franchising goes to...........

Mr. Chumber and Travel Expreeeeeessssssssssss!

[ayoungbusman]

It's intriguing to me that Kevs Cars and Coaches and Silverline Landflight didn't make any submission.

[Gareth]

So most respondents, operators, unions and organisations all support the scheme. Except Rotala, Travel Express, Bus Users UK and the Irish.
 A lot of Neutrals too.

[Stu]

White smoke alert, no not for a new pope, but for the results of the franchising survey. I'm not ploughing through it on such a lovely day but its pages 42-372 in the agenda reports pack

https://governance.wmca.org.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=137&MId=1467&Ver=4

Thanks for that, I will have a dig through probably at the weekend.

In a nutshell though:

The Consultation Findings Report is included in Appendix 1. Over 3,000 members of the public responded via questionnaire. 52% of respondents support the transition to a Franchising scheme and 18% oppose, with 30% neutral. As well as providing views on Franchising, many of the public comments relate to perceptions on the quality of the region's bus services. Whilst these comments are not directly relevant to whether or not the region's bus services are Franchised it does indicate the kinds of improvements that customers would like to see if Franchising is implemented, and this insight can be used to shape future consultations if a
decision is taken by the Mayor to proceed.

So it's going to happen then... (my emphasis in bold)

[Wumpty]

Thanks for that, I will have a dig through probably at the weekend.

In a nutshell though:
So it's going to happen then... (my emphasis in bold)

Never really in doubt! I still think it's wrong for the West Midlands.

[Wumpty]

I notice that the following quote has appeared many times in the last 24 hours, and I'd like to share it here:

"When I was elected to office, I made it clear I believe that bringing our buses under public control would help us to reduce traffic congestion, clean up our air, support our businesses, and keep the region moving," Mr Parker noted on 1 May.

Let's break this down (as has been done across many posts on this thread):

"I believe that bringing our buses under public control would help us to reduce traffic congestion"
Really? And how is this to be achieved with the same buses running realistically along similar, if not the same routes, in the same roads with no change to the infrastructure, and no decrease in the number of non-bus vehicles on the roads? Is Magicbus going to make an appearance in the west Midlands with flying carpets - no.

"clean up our air"
Granted, fleets of electric buses are now making significant in-roads (no pun intended) into the public transport arena, but how does this affect non-bus traffic? Such a sweeping statement is ludicrous - it's all very well having potentially more Clean Air Zones like Birmingham, but this hasn't stopped me paying to drive my diesel car, and nor does it deter me. Franchising alone will not "clean up our air".

"support our businesses"
Surely not! Franchising will reduce the number of operators, potentially the frequency and the routes buses follow. There is no Midlands-based bus builder so no support to the local businesses in that respect, and no enhancement just because the local authorities run the buses instead of the local bus operators.

" and keep the region moving"
Nothing that the WMCA or local authorities have done has made any significant change to how buses are allowed to move. A few bus lanes and priority bus movement areas have had no real impact unless you drive out general traffic from town centres, and that will never happen.

For someone who very rarely uses the bus, if at all, this is all very nice on a manifesto, or great platitudes at a press conference, though something tells me that Mayor Parker won't see a second term........

[karl724223]

I notice that the following quote has appeared many times in the last 24 hours, and I'd like to share it here:

"When I was elected to office, I made it clear I believe that bringing our buses under public control would help us to reduce traffic congestion, clean up our air, support our businesses, and keep the region moving," Mr Parker noted on 1 May.

Let's break this down (as has been done across many posts on this thread):

"I believe that bringing our buses under public control would help us to reduce traffic congestion"
Really? And how is this to be achieved with the same buses running realistically along similar, if not the same routes, in the same roads with no change to the infrastructure, and no decrease in the number of non-bus vehicles on the roads? Is Magicbus going to make an appearance in the west Midlands with flying carpets - no.

"clean up our air"
Granted, fleets of electric buses are now making significant in-roads (no pun intended) into the public transport arena, but how does this affect non-bus traffic? Such a sweeping statement is ludicrous - it's all very well having potentially more Clean Air Zones like Birmingham, but this hasn't stopped me paying to drive my diesel car, and nor does it deter me. Franchising alone will not "clean up our air".

"support our businesses"
Surely not! Franchising will reduce the number of operators, potentially the frequency and the routes buses follow. There is no Midlands-based bus builder so no support to the local businesses in that respect, and no enhancement just because the local authorities run the buses instead of the local bus operators.

" and keep the region moving"
Nothing that the WMCA or local authorities have done has made any significant change to how buses are allowed to move. A few bus lanes and priority bus movement areas have had no real impact unless you drive out general traffic from town centres, and that will never happen.

For someone who very rarely uses the bus, if at all, this is all very nice on a manifesto, or great platitudes at a press conference, though something tells me that Mayor Parker won't see a second term........

I'm interested how it will reduce traffic congestion as well as I sit in it every day ok I'm paid to 😂

[Wumpty]

I'm interested how it will reduce traffic congestion as well as I sit in it every day ok I'm paid to 😂

Exactly my point!!!!

Nothing that franchising will do will improve traffic congestion. How many bus drivers did the WMCA directly consult on about this? Look at Manchester (where I was last Sunday) - NOTHING has changed other than a mish-mash of liveries and a shed-tonne of cash spent by the local authorities marketing a concept that has done nowt to radically improve a situation that didn't need changing.

But hey, what do you bus drivers know ;) ?!

[Rachvince53]

In a BBC report on the issue, there was a claim made that 75% supported franchising. (I watched it on a link from facebook). Exactly where that figure came from I have no idea. 

[cardew]

In a BBC report on the issue, there was a claim made that 75% supported franchising. (I watched it on a link from facebook). Exactly where that figure came from I have no idea.

BBC just repeated WMCA's own attention grabbing headline, which says a lot for WMCA's grasp of maths and the reporter's attention to detail.

https://www.wmca.org.uk/news/three-quarters-of-people-back-plan-for-public-control-of-bus-network/

Actual figures: 
30% Strongly support
22% Somewhat Support
30% Neutral
6% Somewhat Oppose
12% Strongly Oppose

[Mayfield]

Take no notice of it, just the usual political bulls*** which by now any one with at least half a brain knows will never happen.

[Stu]

BBC just repeated WMCA's own attention grabbing headline, which says a lot for WMCA's grasp of maths and the reporter's attention to detail.

https://www.wmca.org.uk/news/three-quarters-of-people-back-plan-for-public-control-of-bus-network/

Actual figures:
30% Strongly support
22% Somewhat Support
30% Neutral
6% Somewhat Oppose
12% Strongly Oppose

Basically they've assumed that anyone who didn't object/oppose must then be in approval, totally discounting the 30% who were neutral.

It's classic statistical manipulation. Even the WMCA's own Agenda Pack document (which I quoted earlier) stated that 52% of respondents were in support.

And again, I point out that there were over 3600 responses, which sounds impressive, but that is out of a total (estimated) population of 2.9m for the West Midlands Combined Authority region.

South Yorkshire's similar consultation garnered over 7800 responses.

https://www.route-one.net/bus/south-yorkshire-confirms-move-to-bus-franchising/

Population of WMCA area: "2.9 million"

Population of SYMCA area: "1.4 million"

[BlackCountryBusSpotter]

Does Mr Parker propose that Buses gain jet engines to beat this congestion, the man is a professional twit

[BBS]

Does Mr Parker propose that Buses gain jet engines to beat this congestion, the man is a professional twit

Certainly he hasn't got a clue about Birmingham in particular

[Stu]

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