South Yorkshire’s shrinking bus network may be soon a step closer to public control

The move to bring South Yorkshire’s shrinking bus network under strategic control of the mayoral combined authority could soon be taking another step forward.

Following the conclusion of an independent review, there may be a 12-week public consultation on bus franchising in South Yorkshire.

Members of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s (SYMCA) board will discuss a report on the next steps of bus franchising in the county after PwC’s independent review.

A report published ahead of the meeting stated that the bus market in South Yorkshire has been experiencing a long–term cycle of decline “whilst growing its reliance on public funding to sustain bus service levels”.

The document added that over the past decade, bus mileage in South Yorkshire has fallen by 42 per cent while in 2012/13, 13 per cent of bus network mileage in South Yorkshire was supported by public funding and by 2023/24, this had grown to 24 per cent.

The report said: “In order to examine options to address this decline and deliver a bus service that meets the needs of South Yorkshire, a bus franchising assessment was undertaken by the MCA.”

Earlier, a bus reform assessment concluded that bus franchising delivers the best value for money and affordability for South Yorkshire – and on March 12, 2024, having received the bus reform assessment the MCA approved the progression of the bus reform assessment to independent audit (review).

This review – conducted by PwC – found no issues with what the mayoral combined authority has reported during the process and it can decide if it wants to go ahead with the proposed franchising scheme.

Should the authority choose to progress the proposed franchising scheme to the next stage, it must:

• publish a consultation document relating to the proposed scheme, publish the bus reform assessment of the proposed scheme;
• publish the auditor’s report on that bus reform assessment
• and give notice of the proposed scheme in such manner as the authority or authorities consider appropriate for bringing it to the attention of persons in the area to which it relates.

The authority must also consult with local bus operators, representatives of employees of operators and organisations representing passengers, among others, such as bus users, non-bus users and other stakeholders.

The document added: “Should the MCA board decide to proceed to consultation, it is anticipated that a 12-week consultation period would launch on October 23, 2024, and close on January 15, 2025. After the consultation period concludes, an analysis report will be produced and a consultation response report prepared.”

Matthew Topham, the lead campaigner at public ownership campaign group We Own It, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “After over a year of delays, we’re delighted to be moving to a public vote on the mayor’s proposals to bring buses into public control.

“The current privatised system is little more than daylight robbery — routes have been slashed, buses seem to never turn up on time, and the public pays to pick up the pieces through higher subsidies.

“No other country runs buses like this! Let’s take control of the services so more profits can be reinvested and operators have to answer to us.”