Gordon Marsden MP: On the Buses

Shadow Transport Minister Gordon Marsden writes that Labour will put communities in the driving seat for buses with real control and real choice. In September 2012 Ed Miliband chose Manchester and the Labour Party Conference to unveil his ‘One Nation’ philosophy, which would ensure no group in society would be left behind in a Labour Government. In November this year he returned to that city to unveil a crucial element of a One Nation Britain: devolved transport powers that enable communities to decide where the money goes to help their people access the jobs and opportunities they aspire to. As a Shadow Transport Minister public transport and how it improves people’s mobility and empowers them is at the heart of my portfolio. I have long argued that buses in particular need to be recognised for the crucial role they play in the lives of people across the country and the benefits they bring our economy. Labour will give communities the powers they need to set the terms of routes and fares and invite bus operators to bid to run the services. Rather than different private companies or Whitehall taking decisions about public transport, Labour will put local areas in the driving seat for buses. Routes can be protected from commercial vagaries, services made punctual and planned strategically across the region and profits reinvested back into the network. But this doesn’t just mean that communities will be able to wrestle back power from the big bus companies, who have thousands of services while fares rises and bosses are paid multi-million pound pay packages. It will also open the door further for the vital work of the community transport sector. Last month I had the honour of speaking at the Community Transport Association’s annual conference. This is a sector whose aspirations match those of Labour’s plans for a step-change in the way we use buses. Community transport organisations work with the elderly, with people with disabilities, and with children and teenagers too. They try to fill the gaps left by drastic and destructive Government spending cuts and bus companies’ indifference. But they’re gaps that simply must be filled. They’re helping people engage socially and access health services, they’re connecting people to local high streets, to sports and fitness, they’re getting people to work and education. There is a unique value to these flexible, not-for-profit organisations, constantly innovating yet in some cases having 50 years’ experience, providing everything from minibuses to self-driven group hire cars to mopeds, as local needs dictate, always with the community’s interest at heart, but always independent from Government too. Labour’s ambitious plans will give power to local communities who can see issues on the ground from the same vantage as community transport groups, who can work closely with them and who will be able to dictate the terms of a local transport network which uses the community sector to its full potential. The key must be to maintain and develop the relationships already established between local passengers, councils and providers and allow every service to prosper under the level playing field provided by this new age of community-led transport. While the Tories approach has been to turn their backs on communities as vital services are whittled away, Labour will put in place a system where profits are reinvested in the network. Values like reliability and customer service will be highly valued, and the competitive advantage of community transport will be brought to the fore as they seek to provide more services. With the proceeds of bus fares in the hands of the community, those often isolated areas which community transport often serves after private operators pull out, and which this Government savagely removed £56 of support for, can be properly protected and resourced. Of course it’s not just in the voluntary sector that we want to see excellent new models of transport thrive under Labour’s devolution plans. I’ve been round the country and seen promising work in the private sector in places like Crawley and Great Yarmouth. But all providers can learn something from the innovation and community focus that makes the community sector what it is. As President of the Rideability scheme in Blackpool, I’ve seen the great success of partnership working in the community, with Blackpool Council providing unoccupied vehicles to our voluntary organisation which provides tailored door-to-door services for disabled people. The links between provider and council are strong, but the service remains focused squarely on the needs of the users. This is what Labour recognises must be at the core of all transport policies, what the Tories with their empty and hypocritical localist rhetoric have always failed to understand, and what will be needed for a generation of public transport users to be able to grasp the opportunities they aspire to.