Passenger Transport: February 11, 2022

FO EV RT ER NI Y GH T

ISSUE 258 11 FEBRUARY 2022

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS FOR A SECTOR ON THE MOVE NEWS

Boris Johnson visited Blackpool Transport last week to publicise the levelling up white paper

Wales seeks bus franchising not partnership

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Government wants ‘single guiding mind’

INNOVATION & TECH

Crossed wires Can you level up while scaling back? Better public transport is at the heart of the government’s ‘levelling up’ plans, but networks face huge cuts The government’s plans to spread opportunity and prosperity to left-behind communities include “local public transport systems becoming much closer to London standards” by 2030.

But this ambition could be fatally undermined by the immediate threat faced by public transport operators due to a reduced post-Covid passenger base and the loss of emergency funding support.

Prime minister Boris Johnson and levelling up secretary Michael Gove visited bus and tram operator Blackpool Transport to publicise the launch of the government’s levelling up white paper, reflecting the importance of public transport to this mission.

However, with Bus Recovery

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Grant funding in England due to end on April 5, bus operators are warning that their networks could be significantly reduced if the government does not act quickly.

Train operators are also expected to cut services in response to pressure to reduce funding.

According to the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the bus industry faces a £350m “funding gap” next year at a time when operators are already experiencing

“There is a lot of talk about levelling up and we need we action on it”

higher costs, especially in staffing.

“The consequences could be that bus operators are forced to reduce services by about 30%,” CPT chief executive Graham Vidler told a House of Lords committee hearing this week.

“The decisions that government makes in the coming weeks are really critical.”

Phil Southall, managing director of Oxford Bus Company, warned: “A significant reduction in routes and timetables risks harm to our local economic recovery, environment, public health and social inclusion ... There is a lot of talk about levelling up and we need real action on it and fast from government.”

NORMAN BAKER: PAGE 18

New York’s MTA signs CitySwift pilot

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Big Apple to harness power of big data

COMMENT

Is this ‘levelling up’, or falling flat?

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Norman Baker reacts to new white paper

COMMENT

The simple pleasures of a journey by bus

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Alex Warner reflects on a recent trip

CAREERS

ADL sponsors diversity group

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Bus builder backs Women in Transport

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CONTENTS

PASSENGER TRANSPORT PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX 020 3950 8000 editorial@passengertransport.co.uk

You can’t level up while scaling back vital links Has public transport ever enjoyed greater status?

The government’s plan for decarbonising transport placed it alongside walking and cycling as the “mode of first choice”. And now the government’s levelling up white paper recognises Robert Jack how public transport can open up opportunities Managing Editor and drive prosperity. As mayor of London, the prime minister witnessed the game-changing impact of high quality public transport. So it’s not suprising that his levelling up white paper pledges that, “by 2030, local public transport connectivity across the country will be significantly closer to the standards of London, with improved services, simpler fares and integrated ticketing”.

The aspiration is welcome, but it does feel a bit like planning your extension at a time when water is rushing into your house. Public transport has never enjoyed greater recognition, but it’s never faced such an imposing array of challenges: A car-led recovery that has left it with a reduced passenger base, a recruitment crisis and a decarbonisation challenge that will require huge investment.

Bus operators in England, for example, could soon be forced to axe around 30% of their services if the government fails to extend emergency revenue support beyond the April 5 cliff-edge. It’s much faster to prune something than it is to grow it. Without swift and sustained support, local public transport connectivity will very soon be much poorer in left-behind communities, and everywhere else.

HAVE YOUR SAY Contact us with your news, views and opinion at: editorial@passengertransport.co.uk PASSENGER TRANSPORT editorial@passengertransport.co.uk forename.surname@ passengertransport.co.uk Telephone: 020 3950 8000 Managing Editor & Publisher Robert Jack Deputy Editor Andrew Garnett Contributing Writer Rhodri Clark Directors Chris Cheek, Andrew Garnett, Robert Jack, George Muir, John Nelson OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS Passenger Transport Publishing Ltd PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX, UNITED KINGDOM Telephone (all enquiries):

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IN THIS ISSUE 04

OPERATORS WARN ON BUS FUNDING CUTS

Concerns are mounting about the future of bus services in England as the end of the Bus Recovery Grant looms on April 5. Bus operators must provide 35 days’ notice to alter or withdraw services, meaning they must lodge any changes this month.

ORGANISATION 21st Century ADL Arriva Arriva Rail London Blackpool Transport Brighton & Hove Centre for Cities CitySwift Claribel Coaches CPT Diamond Bus EPM Group Go North East Great British Railways Ispwich Buses Journeo Littlepay LNER London Overground London Underground Merseytravel Metrobus Network Rail Nottingham City Transport Northern Omnibus Oxford Bus Company Passenger Rotala Scottish Government Switch Mobility Ticketer Transport for London Transport for the North Transport for Wales UrbanThings Welsh Government Zenobe Energy

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16

ZENOBE SECURES UP TO £241M FOR EV GROWTH

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ARE WE LEVELLING UP OR LEVELLING DOWN?

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AN HONEST DEBATE ABOUT ROAD PRICING?

EV fleet and battery storage specialist Zenobe Energy has established a multi-source debt structure of £241m to accelerate the expansion of the EV fleet sector. It will enable Zenobe to initially service and finance up to 430 new e-buses in the UK and Ireland.

Levelling up is in many ways a return to the regional transport planning of past decades, writes Nick Richardson - but is it making any progress?

“It also involves decentralising power and working more directly with local partners.”

Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT: “It’s time for the motorist to pay more in tax than they have done and a road pricing scheme has the potential to facilitate that.”

REGULARS NEWS INNOVATION & TECH ENVIRONMENT COMMENT GRUMBLES CAREERS DIVERSIONS

03 14 17 18 25 26 28

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Operators warn on the impact of funding cuts Bus operators are expected to announce cuts to their bus networks later this month ahead of the planned phase-out of the Bus Recovery Grant FUNDING

Concerns are mounting about the future of Andrew Garnett bus services Deputy Editor in England as the end of the Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) looms on April 5.

Bus operators must provide 35 days’ notice to alter or withdraw services, meaning they must lodge any planned network changes with the traffic commissioners on February 25.

The unease is such that late last month the Department for Transport was forced to request operators avoid the preemptive deregistration of services and hinted that further government

support may be forthcoming.

In an email to operators, Matt Crane, the DfT’s bus reform and recovery official, acknowledged BRG would end in April and that no additional funding had at that point been agreed with the Treasury.

However, he added that his department understood the challenge faced by bus operators in England, and that patronage and financial recovery had been hindered by the impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

In the short term, an additional Bus Recovery Grant payment will be made to bus operators, above what was planned with the initially allocated £226.5m.

That will see a further £29m go to

Scotland rolls out new bus funding New scheme replaces BSOG and Covid Support Grants While concern is mounting in England over the future of emergency Covid financial support, the Scottish Government last week announced a new funding mechanism that aims to support bus services while patronage recovers from the pandemic.

The new Network Support Grant (NGS) will go live on April 1 and replace the Covid Support Grant (CSG), Covid Support Grant - Restart

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(CSG-R) and the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG).

NSG will initially be provided through two sub-schemes: NSG, and NSG Plus. NSG will be paid at 14.4 pence per kilometre with NSG Plus paid at 79.4 pence per kilometre. Operators can only join one of these financial support schemes at a time.

Outline terms and conditions for NSG include a commitment to consult with relevant local transport authorities on

BRG during the current financial year. £26m of this pot will go to operators, with local authorities expected to receive the balance.

But there have, in recent days, been growing concerns in the industry about the impact that the complete withdrawal of BRG could have beyond April 5.

Crane said the sector has robustly emphasised to his department that further support will be needed beyond then. He added that officials are scrutinising the implications of what would happen in the event of a complete withdrawal of funding.

Despite Crane’s words, some operators have gone public and revealed the impact the withdrawal of the financial

support mechanisms could have in their networks.

Go-Ahead Group has warned its operations in Oxfordshire could shrink by between 20% and 30%. Such a move would include the withdrawal of Oxford’s

timetabling, paying special attention to those services which may support children to travel to school. Operators will also be required to respond “positively and quickly” to “reasonable requests” from local transport authorities to amend service patterns, hours of operation, vehicles or provision.

NSG Plus is intended to help offset lost revenue while patronage recovers from the effects of the pandemic.

Operators will be required to provide Transport Scotland with patronage, farebox revenue and cost data, as well as the consultation commitments

attached to the NGS scheme.

However, fare increases will be capped to the Consumer Price Index from an agreed date pre-Covid and there will be a “margin sharing agreement”.

This will see up to 7% earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) retained by the operator; between 7% and 20% EBIT shared equally between the operator and Transport Scotland; and over 20% EBIT to be retained by Transport Scotland.

The draft Scottish Budget for 2022-23 provides up to £93.5m for the schemes, including £40m in additional funding to support the recovery scheme.

www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 16:36

“There is a real threat we will have to reduce services by around 20% to 30% in three weeks’ time” Withdrawal of funding would see big cuts made to Oxford Bus Company’s city network

entire network of commerciallyoperated park and ride services, some Oxford city services and a number of rural routes. Group subsidiaries Thames Travel and Oxford Bus Company have revealed their contingency plans to ‘right size’ their networks to match the 70% of pre-pandemic demand for their services that currently exists.

“There is a real threat we will have to reduce services by around 20% to 30% in three weeks’ time,” said Phil Southall, managing director of the two subsidiaries. “We are on a cliff edge and at a time when people need services to return to work, education and leisure activities it is absolutely critical government extends its support.”

He also warned his operations faced further funding challenges from DfT guidance to local authorities indicating emergency funding for concessionary travel to operators can be reduced from April 1. Oxfordshire County Council has paid 100% of the www.passengertransport.co.uk

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reimbursement to bus operators to date. However, this could now be reduced to 65% over the next 12 months or so, even though the council will continue to receive 100% reimbursement from the government.

Southall added: “This is a call to action to help us avoid having to reduce our network and the devastating impact it will have on the community, which obviously we want to try and avoid. We’ve written to our local MPs and asked them to help avert this crisis. Like all bus operators in the UK, we need the government to extend BRG funding by another six to nine months while we seek to continue to rebuild patronage.

“Furthermore, we need Oxfordshire County Council to continue to pay us 100% of pre-pandemic levels for carrying concessionary passengers.

This would enable some services under threat to continue, even if BRG funding is withdrawn.”

Southall emphasised how the

bus industry had worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic.

He continued: “We have shown great agility to respond to changing demands, but a significant reduction in routes and timetables risks harm to our local economic recovery, environment, public health and social inclusion.

“Without funding we must create ways to be sustainable and survive. There is a lot of talk about levelling up and we need real action on it and fast from government.”

Meanwhile, in the north east of England, there have been suggestions that fellow Go-Ahead subsidiary Go North East could slash up to 17% of its pre-pandemic mileage over the coming months.

In an email seen by local newspaper The Chronicle, the company reveals a series of potential cuts to services in Newcastle and North Tyneside that will come into force on March 27. The company also warned that further cuts could be made to its network in May. In a notice sent to stakeholders this week, Go North East commercial director Stephen King said that the fact that passenger levels remain up to 30% below normal means “a number of services will become unsustainable financially and we are now at the point of needing to take action”.

He added: “It is important to note that many unprofitable services will continue to be operated commercially by us even after these changes, as we have worked to take a long term view on recovery potential, but we can no longer sustain the operation of the very worst performing services and it is important that we reflect the changes in people’s travel patterns and demand as we emerge from the pandemic. ”

THINK TANK BACKS BUS FUNDING

Centre for Cities calls for further Bus Recovery Grant FUNDING

A leading think tank has concluded that the government should provide further financial support to the bus industry by extending the Bus Recovery Grant scheme in the short term with longer term aspirations to boost bus funding.

The Centre for Cities last week called on national policy makers to engage in the bus funding debate sooner rather than later and provide more funding to the industry, noting the bus is “the most used form of public transport across Britain”.

“The onset of the Omicron variant and the work from home guidance has seen the recovery of bus patronage stall at around 70% of pre-Covid levels, with the issue exacerbated by an unprecedented shortage of bus drivers,” said Jovana Lalic, the think tank’s partnership and policy manager.

“Without additional grants and with little funding available from local government still affected by austerity, bus operators are now having to consider terminating vital services.”

Lalic added that while England’s National Bus Strategy is welcomed, Centre for Cities believes that reports of a squeeze on its promised funding is disappointing and will add to the uncertainty in the sector.

She continued: “In the short term, government should draw up plans to at least safeguard the existing emergency funding for bus operators to make sure bus provision continues, until ridership levels stabilise and return to those from before the pandemic.

“Separately, the £1.2bn announced by the chancellor in the autumn budget for better bus services, infrastructure and fares outside London as part of Bus Back Better should also be fully deployed.”

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Vere - we’ll assist areas with ‘rubbish’ BSIPs Many Bus Service Improvement Plans impressed buses minister Baroness Vere, but others ‘need work, big time’ and she intends to provide assistance The 79 Bus Service Improvement Plans submitted by English local authorities before last year’s October 31 deadline varied greatly in quality and some may be asked to “have another go”, transport minister Baroness Vere revealed last month.

Addressing the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s UK Bus and Coach Conference 2022,Vere said: “We’ve had a huge number of hugely impressive, absolutely fantastic BSIPs, and we’ve had some others, quite frankly, that need work, big time.”

Vere and her officials are currently going through these plans and deciding how to allocate the £1.2bn of funding that is available to support the ambitions they contain. She does not want areas that submitted poor quality BSIPs to get left behind. They will be asked to “have another go”.

Vere said: “We need to understand why some areas felt that they couldn’t be as ambitious as we would like. Maybe that’s a factor of their capacity and capability in the area of bus ...

Some areas, for whatever reason, may have decided that actually no, bus is not a priority for them. Well more fool them, that’s what I say, and we need to make sure that they drink the Kool-Aid and get with the programme and really focus on improving their BSIPs going forward.”

She added: “Having those [BSIPs] ready is absolutely key to get local authorities thinking in the right way.

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“We want to support those local authorities who do not get good gradings for their BSIPs because they’re not as good as we would like versus what we set out in the bus strategy ... We will think, and I haven’t made the decision on this, can we help them with capacity and capability funding.

“And then the second thing, how do we share best practice from some of the more outstanding plans that we’ve seen. How do we share that best practice through regional centres of excellence to enable the sharing of best practice to get further out through the

whole of the system.

“Because remember that some of the things that are going to be in BSIPs don’t cost any money at all ... Even if there is no funding for a particular area for whatever reason, there are other things that can be done for no money at all.”

Vere was asked what could be done to constrain car use in order to create a more favourable operating environment for buses and enhance their competitiveness. She responded that this would be a local decision.

“There are lots of levers that local transport authorities can pull

“We need to make sure that they drink the Kool-Aid ... and really focus on improving their BSIPs going forward” Baroness Vere, transport minister

Minister wants more focus on hydrogen ‘We do need to make sure we have a different option’ Transport minister Baroness Vere has urged the bus industry to think carefully about how they can harness the power of hydrogen for their fleets.

Hydrogen-powered bus fleets are operating in London, Birmingham and Aberdeen, but the overwhelming majority of zero emission buses are electric.

Wrightbus owner and JCB heir

Jo Bamford is among those who have campaigned for a greater role for hydrogen. His father, Lord Bamford, is a major donor to the Conservative Party, providing £3.9m during the 2019 general election campaign.

Addressing the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s UK Bus and Coach Conference 2022 last month, Vere said: “I think one

and I would encourage them to pull them,” she said.

One of those levers is bus priority measures. On this subject, Vere remarked: “There is good evidence to show why bus priority works and we will try and provide as much air cover as we can in terms of guidance etc, but it will be for local authorities to have those conversations with their local communities and I absolutely recognise that not everyone will agree. Welcome to transport. We have limited space on our roads and as everyone will know we get incoming from everybody.”

Vere is opposed to the idea of setting a target for reducing car use. The Scottish Government is aiming to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030.

“Quite how they are going to do it I don’t know and I haven’t really seen what plans they are going to put in place,” said Vere.

“But are you literally going to tell people you cannot drive your car?

I don’t feel that is somewhere that I would ever want to be.”

Her biggest ask from bus operators was meanwhile “play nicely with your local authorities and they’ll play nicely back”

of the elephants in the room for zero emission buses, which I need to get resolved and I need to get people to put their thinking caps on, is hydrogen.

I think we do need to make sure that we have a different option, and at the moment we’ve got to really think about how we play hydrogen in. We know that there are some hydrogen buses out there at the moment ... but what do we need to do to really make it a fuel for the future?

So I’ve got my officials thinking about that at the moment.”

www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 18:09

Is this ‘levelling up’, or falling flat? Page 18

Government promises London-style transport Devolution to be at the heart of delivering a revolution by 2030 LEVELLING UP

The government has announced ambitious plans for public transport improvements by 2030 in its Levelling Up the United Kingdom white paper.

Forming one of the 12 “levelling up missions” outlined in the document, the government aims to improve local public transport connectivity in England to such an extent that it will be “significantly closer to the standards of London, with improved services, simpler fares and integrated ticketing”.

Meanwhile, the government plans to explore devolving more transport powers and responsibilities in England.

Amongst these powers are a commitment to greater mayoral control over Key Route Networks in combined authority areas.

Negotiations will also

commence on deeper devolution deals with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands and the government says these will act as a blueprint for other mayoral combined authorities to follow.

The boundaries of the new MCAs will be “recast where necessary” to ensure “there is greater economic coherence” and nine areas will be invited to agree new ‘County Deals’. These deals with upper-tier local authorities would see a new devolution model introduced with elected mayors or, what the government calls, ‘governors’. These deals would also include transport powers.

But elsewhere there’s something of a mixed bill of fare.

Uncertainty regarding the funding commitments the government attached to the National Bus Strategy is further increased with the white paper stating £3bn has been attached to bus funding.

But there are hints of where some of the National Bus

Strategy funding could be going.

The white paper explicitly states the government “will fund ambitious plans for bus improvement, enhancing services and reducing fares, in Stokeon-Trent, Portsmouth, Luton, Derbyshire, Warrington and many other places”.

“This is not an exhaustive list of authorities which will be given funding,” the document continues.

“Further discussions will be held with these and other councils to ensure their commitment to the improvements set out in the National Bus Strategy.”

Meanwhile, it’s clear that the government intends to press ahead with its reforms to funding mechanisms. Levelling Up the United Kingdom says it will work to devolve the Bus Service Operators Grant, including, once it has been reformed, to mayoral combined authorities and other local transport authorities that request it. “Devolving this funding

further empowers LTAs to drive improvements in local bus services,” adds the white paper.

Elsewhere there are a myriad of spending commitments £500m for zero emission buses and £440m for bus priority schemes in the shires. £5.7bn is committed to transport in the mayoral combined authorities and a further £360m will be spent to introduce London-style contactless ticketing on regional commuter rail networks.

The industry welcomed the paper. FirstGroup said it approved of the government recognition of the role public transport plays in growth but said the vision would be best delivered through the expertise and innovation of private operators.

The Confederation of Passenger Transport said the white paper was “another vote of confidence in the crucial role of buses” but it called for further financial support beyond the planned end of the Bus Recovery Grant in April.

Plans for further devolution were welcomed by the Urban Transport Group, but it called for “less micro-management of capital investment programmes”.

NXWM HIGHLIGHTS BUS FARE SAVINGS Operator stresses its fares are getting cheaper FARES

FASTRACK DOVER MOVES AHEAD Construction of the Dover Fastrack bus rapid transit scheme has stepped up a gear with the news that the construction contract has been awarded by Kent County Council to Colas UK Projects.

Construction work will get underway within weeks and it is hoped services will launch in summer 2023. Funding for a fleet of electric Volvo buses to operate Dover Fastrack has been secured from the government’s ZEBRA scheme. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Despite inflationary fears in the wider UK economy, National Express West Midlands has highlighted that despite the cost of living increasing by 27% since 2014, its bus fares now cost the same as they did eight years ago. “We know our low-fare policy is working, because since we dropped our prices in July 2021, we’ve seen 6% more passengers on our buses as a result,” said David Bradford, MD of National Express Bus. 11 February 2022 | 07

09/02/2022 18:09

NEWS ROUND-UP

McLoughlin talks tough over NPR downgrade Former transport secretary vows to fight for high speed plans INVESTMENT

Former transport secretary Lord McLoughlin has launched his term as chair of Transport for the North with an attack on the government’s plans to cut back its plans for the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme.

The former Conservative MP said the recently published Integrated Rail Plan “goes against the interest of the people in the North” and vowed to campaign for the high speed rail scheme to be delivered in full.

“I believe firmly in the potential of the North of England and know from my personal experience and professional career just how vital reliable, cost-effective and sustainable transport is to people and business,” said McLoughlin.

“I have followed the work of TfN since the start - I was

‘HS2 IS ABOUT EXTRA CAPACITY’ McLoughlin criticises approach to HS2 HIGH SPEED RAIL

Former transport secretary Lord McLoughlin made the case for high speed rail in his first appearance as chair of Transport for the North before the parliamentary transport select committee last week.

Responding to criticism of the HS2 high speed rail project, McLoughlin argued that one of the greatest errors to have been made was to make the case for the project on the 08 | 11 February 2022 PT258p08-09.indd 8

transport secretary when it was set up - and so I am delighted to be the new chair of this passionate, dedicated and visionary organisation. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead as part of Team TfN.” He said a key focus for the TfN board remains the need to press the case as to why its preferred approach to Northern Powerhouse Rail remains fundamental to securing the long-term economic future of the North.

McLoughlin continued: “The government’s Integrated Rail

McLoughlin: IRP ‘goes against the interest of the north’

basis of speed rather than capacity.

“One of the things I find rather odd about the whole debate is this,” said the former transport secretary. “I suppose one of the mistakes, if I was to be slightly critical of what Andrew Adonis did when he was secretary of state, was to call it HS2. It is not really about speed. It is about capacity.

“If you accept that it is about capacity and you have to build a brand-new railway line, do you build an ordinary line or do you go for a high-speed line? I think you go for a high-speed line.

“I find it rather fascinating that in this country I can go to Paris or

Plan goes against the best interest of people in the North and fails to deliver the step-change in rail services that is the only sustainable, long-term solution.”

Charlie Edwards, a Lancashire county councillor and TfN’s vice chair said he was delighted that McLoughlin had been approved as the new statutory sub-national transport body’s new chair.

“His experience at the heart of government that he brings to TfN will help us push forward with our ambitious plans for the region,” he said.

Louise Gittins, who has served as interim chair of TfN since summer 2021, also said McLoughlin’s experience in government would put him in good stead “for this challenging and important role”.

She continued: “Having served as interim chair since summer 2021, I can say that Lord McLoughlin is joining an organisation that has dedicated people at its core who care about

the people in the North and use that passion to work hard in delivering a transport system that the region needs and deserves.”

At the top of McLoughlin’s in-tray at TfN will be the need to secure adequate funding from the Department for Transport.

Northern leaders have expressed their “grave concern” that with only weeks of the current financial year left, TfN is still waiting for confirmation of its funding for the next three years.

In her role as interim chair, Gittins wrote to transport secretary Grant Shapps in late January calling for an urgent meeting to resolve the situation.

“At its meeting held [on January 25] the TfN board expressed its grave concern at the continued lack of certainty with regards to its core funding,” she wrote.

“The board was concerned to note the implications this is having on TfN’s ability to deliver its agreed programme of work, and the consequential implications the continued uncertainty has for the health and well-being of staff.”

TfN employs around 120 staff and has offices in Manchester and Leeds.

Brussels from London on a highspeed line, but I cannot go from London to Birmingham, Manchester or Leeds on a high-speed line. It shows a lack of imagination in what is actually important for the United Kingdom.”

During the hearing talk turned to the cost of HS2. Greg Smith, the Conservative MP for Buckingham and a critic of the scheme, said that if there was an enormous thirst from the business community for the project, why was the government paying for it?

“That is a lovely free market question and one that you can rightly

ask,” said McLoughlin.

“We do not look to the private sector to build our motorways. I actually think that the high-speed line is like a new motorway. We did not look in any way for HS1 to be built that way. The history of it was very coloured, with the government eventually having to come in and sort it out.”

McLoughlin said that the UK had yet to address the whole question of how we evaluate value added by infrastructure projects. “That is something that perhaps we need to do some more work on and think about a little bit more,” he added. www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 16:44

“We are having cuts under the smokescreen of Covid when in Leeds station at weekends we are at 110% capacity pre-Covid”

Covid is ‘smokescreen’ for Northern rail cuts Tracy Brabin claims government plans to slash rail services RAIL CUTS

Tracy Brabin, the mayor of West Yorkshire, has claimed that the government is using the pandemic as a “smokescreen” for rail service cuts in the North of England.

Speaking during a Transport for the North board meeting in Manchester last week, Brabin said using Covid as a reason for running reduced services no longer stood up to scrutiny given Leeds station is now seeing pre-pandemic levels of passengers at weekends.

A report discussed by the TfN board warned that the government is asking train operators to make “substantial savings”. The report said the subsidy received by rail operators was £16.9bn in 2020/21 - a £10.4bn increase on the year as a result of Covid decimating patronage.

While demand has recovered more strongly in the North than in other parts of the country, it is still below pre-pandemic levels. However, there have also been cuts to services, with the December 2021 timetable offering around 85% of the services available before Covid. The report added the financial position means further service cuts are likely in 2023.

“It isn’t clear that there will be sufficient funding to continue to support all services included in next year’s plan or to continue to growth back of services to preCovid levels,” it said.

“We are having cuts under the smokescreen of Covid when in Leeds station at weekends we are at 110% capacity pre-Covid,” said Brabin. “The government are making this argument that we are having to have these timetables because of Covid.”

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he was

strongly opposed to further cuts to rail services and warned it would lead to a “car-led recovery”.

“We are going to be asked to accept a downgraded timetable from December 2022 and this is talking about further budget cuts coming on top of that,” he said.

“To have any suggestion we are going to lose rail services from a reduced timetable - no way should we be asked to consider that.”

Burnham also said he was concerned at plans for “workforce modernisation”. Referring to the long-running guards dispute at Northern before the pandemic, he said: “We went through that before with the attempt to remove guards from the train.”

“In my view, it just destroys public confidence... It feels to me the plan is for managed decline of the railways in the post pandemic period and a car-led recovery.

How is that going to work for the country in the long run? Surely we should be doing the opposite?”

GBR SEEKS CITIES WITH ‘X-FACTOR’

Public vote to inform new home of rail organisation REGIONS

FORTH FORWARD Network Rail has submitted refreshed proposals to install a visitor attraction at the Forth Bridge. The proposed facility will allow groups of between 12 and 15 people wearing suitable safety harnesses climb to a new viewing platform at the top of the iconic railway structure. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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The government has officially opened its competition to find the new home of Great British Railways.

Locations across the country with strong historical links to the railway are being encouraged to bid and make their case to be the home of the new organisation. The GBR transition team will shortlist the best applications in May, after which, uniquely, a public vote will help determine the winning location.

IN BRIEF £47M ON HEATHROW LINK The cost to the taxpayer of the stalled Western Rail Link to Heathrow Airport has risen to almost £47m according to the government. The airport had been expected to contribute the bulk of the funding toward the scheme, which was first proposed in 2012, but it has been paused as a result of the impact of Covid on the air transport market. In response to a written question from Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough, transport minister Wendy Morton confirmed the estimated total amount of public money spent on the project is £46.9m.

PUNCTUALITY IS TOP Transport Focus has called for a relentless focus on punctuality and reliability from train operators as the watchdog published its latest weekly rail passenger satisfaction survey. It found more than eight in 10 rail passengers (85%) were satisfied with their journey, Analysis of the survey results shows that satisfaction with punctuality and reliability is the most important driver of overall satisfaction, followed by the level of crowding on board the train. Data from commuters suggests less crowded trains are improving the experience for these passengers.

PICK A NAME The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Network Rail, Merseyrail and Liverpool City Council have launched a public poll to name a new station on the Merseyrail network at the former St James site in Liverpool. The three names are Liverpool Baltic, Liverpool Parliament Street, and Liverpool Riverside. The public vote will close on February 18.

11 February 2022 | 09

09/02/2022 16:44

NEWS ROUND-UP

Franchising favoured over bus partnerships Welsh Government wants European model and ‘single guiding mind’ REGULATION

The Welsh Government is planning to omit partnerships from its future bus services legislation and to focus on franchising services across Wales.

Bus operators were dismayed to discover last month that a white paper, due in January, had been delayed. They said the uncertainty over Welsh bus legislation has stymied investment since 2017 (PT257).

Previously, the Welsh Government prepared a bill which largely replicated the provisions made in English and Scottish bus legislation, including giving local authorities new options for partnerships with bus operators.

The Covid-19 pandemic prevented the bill from being passed in the last Senedd term.

Deputy climate change minister Lee Waters told Passenger Transport last week, at the launch event for free bus travel in Newport, that the new white paper had been delayed because the government was now taking a different approach and wished to consult

CLAYTON JONES RETURNS Surprise expressed at timing of comeback NEW ENTRANTS

Veteran bus entrepreneur Clayton Jones returned to the South Wales bus market this week with new services in the Pontypridd area.

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“The fact that bus operators don’t feel they can invest is a symptom of a broken system” Lee Waters

operators before deregulation in 1986 but only Cardiff Bus and Newport Transport survive.

The Welsh Government has budgeted £400,000 for all bus travel within Newport to be free of charge throughout March.

The offer will apply to all bus operators, replicating the free travel in December which was funded by the city council. The latest initiative is designed to demonstrate to the public that the recommendations of the Burns Commission in November 2020 are being acted on.

The commission advised the government on ways to alleviate M4 congestion without building a new motorway around Newport.

Waters said a huge amount of preparatory work was going on but it was hidden from public view. “I am confident that the free bus scheme I have announced today will not only provide a boost to the bus industry and local economy, but also encourage more people to make the switch to more sustainable travel,” he said.

The government launched two related consultations last week. One concerns proposals to introduce bus priority and cycle lanes on the A48 between Newport and Cardiff. The other concerns improved access to Severn Tunnel Junction station, including the possible diversion of the X74 and T7 bus services to serve the station.

company to Veolia in 2006 and later established St David’s Travel to operate routes in Cardiff and Pontypridd. He had many brushes with authority along the way, and his application for a bus operator’s licence was opposed by his local authority, Rhondda Cynon Taf council. He was granted a licence on condition that an independent audit is carried out by mid-September.

below what they were before the pandemic. It is understood that his services will not qualify for funding from the Welsh Government’s Bus Emergency Scheme 2, which is designed to support operators in maintaining existing services.

Jones is licensed to run up to eight vehicles. Minibuses in a white and red livery were used to launch the services.

stakeholders before the white paper’s publication.

He said: “Previous partnership powers have not achieved the improvements we need to see.”

Greater Manchester authorities had still not reformed their bus network, four years after the legislation in England had come into force. “The industry is running rings around them,” said Waters.

The Welsh approach would resemble the European model and include a “single guiding mind”, he said. Bus networks would be overseen by a supervisory board, working with Transport for Wales, regional authorities and local authorities “to create a bus system that can be franchised at a regional level”.

The franchised system would be “greater than the sum of its parts” and enable coordination of ticketing. It would also align with the Welsh Government’s plans for reallocating road space to buses and its multi-modal approach to

improving transport.

Asked whether he sympathised with the industry in its current situation, Waters said: “The fact that bus operators don’t feel they can invest is a symptom of a broken system. What we want to do is have a bus system in a more strategic form.”

He confirmed that the proposed bill would include powers for local authorities to establish new municipal bus companies.

Officers at some rural authorities previously expressed interest in doing so. They included Pembrokeshire County Council, which has been operating scheduled bus services for five years after receiving no bids, or unaffordable bids, when it put some contracts out to tender. The council is now planning to acquire the assets of an independent bus operator, but officers have said the council’s bus operation will not replicate the commercial freedoms of a municipal bus company.

Wales had numerous municipal

Jones registered 13 routes commencing on Monday. He is providing new competition for Adventure Travel, which was purchased by ComfortDelGro from Kevyn Jones, Clayton Jones’ estranged son.

Some industry sources expressed surprise that Clayton Jones had chosen to launch services while passenger numbers remained well

www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 16:50

“There is no UK recovery from the pandemic without a London recovery”

TfL wins breathing space with interim deal Two-week stop-gap agreement allows further funding talks FUNDING

The government has agreed to a further interim extension of the emergency funding arrangements for Transport for London.

It follows an announcement in December from TfL that the terms of the funding package agreed in June 2021 had been amended to extend the funding period to February 4 (PT256).

Now transport secretary Grant Shapps has announced a further extension of these arrangements for two weeks until February 18.

The move has been made with agreement from London mayor Sadiq Khan.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we have supported

the transport network in London with over £4.5bn funding through extraordinary funding settlements for TfL,” Shapps told MPs this week. “We have recognised the reliance of London’s transport network on fare revenue and government continues our commitment to mitigating loss of fare revenue because of the pandemic.”

He said the extension would allow government officials to finalise the terms of a “robust settlement for this period, ensuring TfL and the mayor take steps to move towards financial sustainability”.

Shapps continued: “Support to TfL has always been on the condition that TfL reaches financial sustainability as soon as possible and with a target date of April 2023, and government

continues to press the mayor of London and TfL to take the decisions needed to put the organisation on a sustainable footing.”

Reiterating recent comments from London transport commissioner Andy Byford, TfL said: “There is no UK recovery from the pandemic without a London recovery”.

“It is essential London receives the sustained long-term government funding that is vital for the coming years if a period of ‘managed decline’ of London’s transport network is to be avoided,” said a TfL spokesperson.

“Working together, we must achieve a longer term capital funding settlement for at least three years, that ensures London’s transport network can remain reliable and efficient.”

INSPIRATION ON TRACK An inspirational new mural is greeting passers-by and passengers at Hackney Downs station, brought to life thanks to a joint effort by local young people, artists, Hackney Arts, Hackney Council, Network Rail and London Overground operator Arriva Rail London. The mural was created by artist Hannah Dickins and musician Hak Baker in collaboration with young people from Hackney-based community organisation, Rise 365. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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IN BRIEF BUSES ADOPT SPEED TECH Transport for London has revealed that around 1,750 buses in the capital have now been fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance equipment that ensures buses do not exceed the speed limit on any given stretch of road. TfL says it continues to aspire to upgrade a further 3,000 mid-life buses with the equipment subject to funding and the ability of suppliers to provide this equipment.

STATION SAFETY CHANGES London Underground has made improvements to its platforms at Waterloo station as a result of an investigation following the death of a passenger who fell into the gap between the train and the platform in May 2020. New cameras have been introduced and LU is reviewing the use of cameras at other stations and making improvements where necessary. Changes to LU’s methods of assessing and documenting risks associated with the Passenger Train Interface have also been made.

TAXI FLEET CUTS There has been a significant fall in the number of licensed taxis in London, according to Transport for London figures. Changes to age limit rules were introduced in November 2021 as part of a move to persuade the sector to adopt zero emission vehicles, but it appears to have had the effect of reducing the number of taxis overall. As a result there are a little over 14,000 taxis currently licensed as opposed to about 19,000 in March 2020. TfL has written to all owners of taxis that were previously licensed in the last four months to encourage them to renew their licence.

11 February 2022 | 11

09/02/2022 16:50

NEWS ROUND-UP CPT TRAINING SERVICE LAUNCH Lloyd Morgan Group to deliver member service TRAINING

The Confederation of Passenger Transport has announced that its CPT Training programme will be delivered in partnership with Lloyd Morgan Group.

CPT Training will offer members a comprehensive range of quality training services at discounted rates.

The new member service is due to launch in the next couple of months and will include transport manager CPC, vehicle inspector, driver CPC, engineering supervisor and manager, and a range of other courses “The new CPT Training will be a real asset to our members,” said operations director Keith McNally.

ROTALA SNAPS UP WEST MIDS FIRM

Claribels to pass to group’s Diamond Bus operation

Switch plans Spanish factory for new model Factory will be home to new electric bus for European market MANUFACTURERS

Bus manufacturer Switch Mobility, formerly known as Optare, has confirmed it is to press ahead with plans for a new manufacturing and technology centre in the Soto de Medinilla area of Valladolid in Spain.

The 112,000 square metre site is situated within convenient access of the centre of Valladolid.

Switch says the site has been selected from a number of suitable locations within the Castilla y Leon Region.

It adds the location benefits from strong infrastructure links by road and will enable Switch to develop a facility in several phases, starting with bus production and a

research and development centre.

“The site is also perfectly situated to take advantage of the strong automotive supply base within the region,” it adds.

Switch’s new manufacturing and technical centre in the region will house production of its first electric bus designed specifically for the European market. The new 12-metre product will build on the technology that Switch and its predecessor have developed for the last decade or so.

The vehicle will use “the latest NMC battery technology” and Switch says its bespoke data

“This new facility will provide us with crucial access” Dr Andy Palmer

analytics systems and lightweight construction methodology will allow the company to optimise the total cost of ownership.

“We are delighted to have selected Valladolid as the location for our first manufacturing site in continental Europe,” said Dr. Andy Palmer, CEO and executive vice chairman of Switch Mobility. “This new facility will provide us with crucial access to the European bus and light commercial vehicle market.

“We look forward to commencing construction imminently and seeing our first buses in production within the next 12 months.”

Switch says further details about the new product for the continental European market will be announced early in the second quarter of 2022.

ACQUISITIONS

AIM-listed bus group Rotala has confirmed its Diamond Bus operation in the West Midlands has agreed to acquire the bus operations and vehicles of West Midlands independent operator Claribel Coaches. It is anticipated the transaction will be concluded on April 24, after which all Claribel’s bus staff and its fleet of 18 buses - a mix of VDL/Wrightbus and Optare Versa single deckers, will transfer to Diamond Bus. Rotala says the directors of Claribel Coaches have decided to focus their attention on Birmingham International Coaches, their coach operation. The group says it is “grateful for the opportunity that this decision has presented to us”.

Further information regarding the transition of services will be available in the coming weeks.

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CONTACTLESS CAP DISCOUNTS

Go-Ahead offers limited £19 weekly travel capping TICKETING

IPSWICH HERO Ipswich Buses driver Steve Harvey has received the Suffolk Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the community, not only driving the municipal firm’s specially converted vaccination bus, but also working as an administration and infection control lead on the vehicle.

Go-Ahead subsidiaries Metrobus and Brighton & Hove have introduced special low capped fares for a limited period in order to encourage passengers to try its new ‘tap on, tap off’ contactless payment system.

For the next few weeks passengers using the system will pay just £19 per week for their journeys. It’s a move that aims to give flexibility while offering “excellent value for money”, says commercial director Nick Hill.

“With contactless tap on tap off, our customers don’t need to plan their journeys in advance and will pay a lower price each day,” Hill added. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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09/02/2022 16:57

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

New York’s MTA signs CitySwift pilot deal Galway-based company will help North America’s largest public transport operator to improve buses after impressing in Transit Tech Lab challenge BIG DATA

Data specialist CitySwift has secured a one-year pilot deal with New York’s Metropolitan Transport Authority to harness the power of big data to improve the city’s bus network.

The Transit Tech Lab - a public-private initiative created by the MTA and the Partnership for New York City to bring in private sector innovation to improve public transport - announced Galway-based CitySwift as one of three winners of its Covid-19 Response Challenge, which will implement high-tech solutions across the MTA and the Port Authority for New York and New Jersey.

The challenge was launched in response to the pandemic and fielded over 200 global applicants.

The companies selected demonstrated promising results after a 12-week proof of concept, during which CitySwift fully integrated with and augmented the MTA’s existing transport data

NEW ALL-IN-ONE CAPABILITY FEATURE Passenger responds to rising contactless use ONLINE RETAILING

Public transport app and website provider Passenger has launched a new feature that gives bus users easier access to their contactless journey and payment history.

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sources.

CitySwift is already working with National Express, the Go-Ahead Group and Transport for Wales in the UK. The company hopes that the MTA deal will lead to further expansion across the Atlantic. “It’s a great opportunity for us to work with the largest public transport operator in North America, prove the value that could be gained from our unique and innovative technology, and then roll it out with large scale,” said CitySwift CEO Brian O’Rourke.

CitySwift will work closely with the MTA and the Partnership for New York City on aligned goals to improve passenger experience and reduce carbon emissions through public transport network

optimisation and passenger capacity predictions.

Its specialist bus data engine will be used to predict bus capacities and run times; optimise timetables; and track, monitor and automatically report network performance across Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

In Brooklyn, its AI-based capacity prediction technology will be used to share accurate stop-by-stop capacity levels with bus users for every vehicle, for any specific date and time up to two weeks in advance. This will enable passengers to make an informed, safe and confident return to public transport, and help ensure a sustainable and carbon-neutral future for New York City.

Commenting on the project,

“Data has the power to transform the economics of the bus sector and help attract a new generation of passengers” Brian O’Rourke, CitySwift Passenger’s contactless journeys portal allows bus users using ‘Tap On, Tap Off’ or other contactless payment systems to view their past journeys and how much they were charged every step of the way - all within existing operator platforms.

The new feature means users will no longer have to switch between different apps or websites when planning their journeys and viewing travel and payment history.

The feature is designed to remove

complexity from existing contactless payment data models, with all information presented in a userfriendly format.

Greg Hepworth, head of product at Passenger, said: “One of the advantages of using contactless on a bus is that users don’t have to plan which ticket type they need to purchase, as the system works out the best value for their journeys made over time and charges them accordingly. Our contactless journeys

O’Rourke said: “CitySwift are incredibly excited to be helping the MTA embrace data in smart, innovative ways to improve bus services and support Covid recovery in New York City. As new mobility patterns emerge, there is a lot to learn from big data about changing trends and how best to plan and shape bus services for the future.

“Data has the power to transform the economics of the bus sector and help attract a new generation of passengers. It’s the key to delivering frequent, fast, reliable services that meet the needs of the modern bus user and offer an attractive, affordable and sustainable alternative to the private car. It will enable the MTA to offer faster journey times, and optimise frequency by intelligently matching vehicle supply with passenger demand.”

Michael Wojnar, MTA senior advisor for innovation and policy, added: “The MTA is exploring every avenue to be in a better position to welcome back New Yorkers as they return to public transit, including looking to great ideas from the private sector.

“These pilots are promising because they may help the MTA improve the customer experience and increase sustainable options to ensure a smoother and more efficient journey.”

feature builds on this benefit by breaking down costs and showing users exactly where their fare was ‘capped’, so they can be assured that they’ve been charged correctly. Soon, users will also receive personalised notifications and be proactively alerted about different elements of their journey, keeping them up to speed on their travel history.”

Passenger’s contactless journeys portal is also designed to be multi-operator friendly. www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 16:59

North Wales PAYG pilot fast-tracked Ticketer and Littlepay underpin trial, which build on 1Bws ticket TICKETING

Consistent provision of bus tickets, ticket machines and payment services in one region of Wales will enable a Pay As You Go ticketing pilot to be fast-tracked, Transport for Wales has revealed.

Arriva, the dominant operator in North Wales, has already fitted readers to more than 170 vehicles there and in Chester as part of its roll-out of Tap on/Tap off ticketing, launched in Leicestershire in October. TfW helped Arriva to fit readers to vehicles used in Wales.

Operators and local authorities in North Wales brought unprecedented commonality to bus ticketing last year by introducing the 1Bws ticket, valid on almost every service in the region. This was possible because the usual commercial considerations around revenue apportionment were muted while the industry relied on emergency funding. Managers saw how the

URBANTHINGS AND LITTLEPAY OFFER MAAS SOLUTION Multi-operator, multimodal interoperability MAAS

Mobility as a Service platform provider UrbanThings and payments infrastructure provider Littlepay have partnered to bring two innovations to the public transport industry, advancing the potential for MaaS solutions to be more widely used by www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Richard Hoare, Arriva

(Littlepay). The South-east Wales pilot involves multi-bus and rail operator systems and therefore is a more technically and commercially challenging proposition.”

Richard Hoare, Arriva Bus UK’s commercial director, said: “The Tap on/Tap off scheme makes bus journeys simpler, giving customers peace of mind knowing that they will be charged the best value fare, whether they make a single journey or multiple trips.

A partnership between Arriva and TfW has led to the successful implementation of the scheme for Arriva products. We look forward to evolving our ticketing partnership with other operators by adding the 1Bws range to tap on/tap off during 2022.”

The Welsh Government has made funding available for TfW to facilitate tap-off readers on buses anywhere in Wales. This will allow bus operators to introduce their own Tap on/Tap off products while also laying the foundations for future multi-operator capped travel using contactless cards or mobile phone payments.

transport authorities.

This will enable passengers’ multi-operator contactless payments and fare capping activity to be fed by Littlepay into the UrbanThings back office, UrbanHub. A unique payment token, based on cardholder data received at point of tap, and tokenised to protect cardholder identity, will provide insights into passenger travel and payments behaviour across multimodal transport networks.

This cross-channel view is critical to understanding how transport

is used and how services can be optimised to match user needs.

The partnership also allows the UK’s first-ever ‘Buy now, tap later’ transit payment option to be offered to passengers. Using a mobile checkout solution developed

by Littlepay, mobile app users will be able to associate their contactless bank card with their MaaS account.

All prepaid journeys, MaaS subscriptions, discounts and even concessionary entitlements can be linked to their payment card, which

simplicity of one ticket covering all 27 operators could help rebuild patronage after the pandemic.

While buses in North-east Wales have a range of ticketing machines and systems, those in rural North-west Wales all use Ticketer machines and Littlepay’s payment services. A TfW spokesman said: “The plan is to deliver a pilot in North West Wales that will deliver best value capped daily travel based on the successful 1Bws ticket, or the best value based on an individual operator’s network.”

Experience from that pilot will support the more complex pilots TfW aims to launch in the autumn on rail and bus routes in the Newport and Cardiff area.

“The North Wales pilot is much simpler as it involves one ticket machine supplier (Ticketer) and one Payment Services Provider

“The Tap on/Tap off scheme makes bus journeys simpler”

IN BRIEF IT-TRANS POSTPONED Due to the ongoing pandemic and the sharp rise in the number of cases in recent weeks, UITP and Messe Karlsruhe have jointly decided to reschedule their IT-TRANS show. The 2022 edition is moving from the original date of March 8-10 to May 10-12.

MERSEYTRAVEL AND OMNIBUS Merseytravel has extended its software partnership with EPM Group (EPM and Omnibus) through the adoption of the Omnibus cloud-based scheduling suite.

Merseytravel bus development manager Jeanette Townson commented: “The implementation of Omnibus scheduling suite will help streamline and increase the efficiency of the tendering process by removing the need for manual data entry.”

NCT TESTS CAMERAS Nottingham City Transport is the first bus operator in the UK to retrofit a Journeo Camera Monitoring System (CMS) to a vehicle, replacing conventional wing mirrors with a digital solution. The solution is from 21st Century, part of Journeo Plc.

can be used as their token to travel.

This concept is known in the UK as cEMV “Model 3”, or “Card as an Authority to Travel”.

For transport authorities, this consolidates the investment in contactless technology, making it an achievable goal to phase out closedloop smart cards.

For the growing numbers of passengers that regularly use tap-to-pay on transit, it will be a game-changer to be able to access MaaS benefits without changing their payments behaviour.

11 February 2022 | 15

09/02/2022 16:59

ENVIRONMENT

Zenobe secures up to £241m for EV growth ‘First of its kind’ debt structure draws on range of institutions ELECTRIC VEHICLES

EV fleet and battery storage specialist Zenobe Energy has established a multi-source debt structure of £241m to radically accelerate the expansion of the EV fleet sector.

The first of its kind funding platform, advised and structured

by NatWest, draws on the support of several financial institutions, and will enable Zenobe to initially service and finance up to 430 new e-buses in the UK and Ireland.

The structure takes total debt finance support from financial institutions to over £300m. Since 2017, the company has also raised equity of over £220m, including a £150m investment in November 2020 from Infracapital, the infrastructure investment arm of

M&G, which has allowed Zenobe to provide services and finance the acceleration of the UK’s transition to a green road transport system.

The institutions took into account the green credentials of Zenobe. and the debt’s application and the company benefited from reduced financing costs accordingly.

Zenobe says that this transaction is an innovative and bespoke funding package which will play a vital role in financing its turnkey fleet electrification offering. The multi-source debt structure will enable the company to raise senior debt financing against the service contracts that Zenobe has entered into with bus operator customers.

The structure comprises longdated term financing, including from UK private placement institutions Aviva and Scottish Widows, alongside a shorterterm facility provided by six banks (Lloyds, MUFG, NatWest, Santander, Siemens and Société Générale) that is intended to fund capital investment to support e-bus and charging infrastructure provided under service contracts to bus operators. The funding platform will be used to raise additional financing over time, and in doing so broaden its funder base as Zenobe expands fleet activities in the UK and Ireland.

Zenobe is a UK market leader

“This innovative funding structure marks the coming of age of structured finance solutions for fleet electrification” Nicholas Beatty, Zenobe Energy founder director

in EV fleets and battery storage, with 175MW of operational and contracted storage assets and 394 EV buses (around 25% market share of the UK operational EV bus sector). It currently works with all major bus operators in the UK including Arriva, Abellio, McGills, National Express and Stagecoach, as well as local authority-owned bus companies, and is enabling the faster take up of EV buses in the UK, helping to meet legally binding climate change targets and improve air quality. Zenobe’s services can act as match funding to government grants, enabling the available grant finance to go further and bring more electric buses onto UK roads.

Zenobe Energy founder director Nicholas Beatty said: “This is an incredibly exciting step for both Zenobe and the transport sector as a whole. This innovative funding structure marks the coming of age of structured finance solutions for fleet electrification, and signifies substantial growth for our business, allowing us to accelerate the rollout of electric buses across the UK.”

VISION FOR ZERO EMISSION CENTRE ADL has plans for Falkirk Investment Zone ZERO EMISSION BUSES

Bus builder Alexander Dennis Limited welcomed UK Government minister for Scotland Iain Stewart on a visit to the planned Falkirk Investment Zone. ADL is among the investment zone’s industry partners with a project for a zero emission bus technology centre of excellence.

ADL’s vision is to create a centre of excellence to focus on the development, testing and manufacture of zero emission bus technology, building on its technical expertise and product innovation.

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ADL welcomed UK Government minister for Scotland Iain Stewart (third from left) on a visit to Falkirk

www.passengertransport.co.uk

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09/02/2022 17:00

COMMENT LEVELLING UP

NORMAN BAKER

Is this ‘levelling up’, or falling flat?

The levelling up white paper seeks London-style transport for all, but service cuts are now looming and we risk moving backwards Is that it?

That was the pithy and somewhat scornful reaction from Labour’s Lisa Nandy to the publication of the government’s long awaited Levelling Up proposals.

The 249-page document has certainly had a long gestation period. Indeed, in the prime minister’s introduction, he proudly states that “From day one, the defining mission of this government has been to level up the country.”

I suspect that the phrase “levelling up” has probably been more used than any other phrase in political circles since the general election of 2019, although it may have been overtaken recently by “partygate”.

So it was reasonable to expect something radical and comprehensive, a real gamechanger. In fact, the document is not without ideas but like so much that succumbs to the prime minister’s uncontrolled boosterism, it has been hugely oversold.

This has happened before. It was not long ago that the record investment of £96bn in rail was attacked as inadequate, largely because the boosterism had led people to believe almost double that would be provided. But in this, as in so much else, the prime minister never learns.

He, and Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary (what an absurd title), will not have been helped by the iron hand of the chancellor who has ensured that very little new money is made available, so that funding references in the paper are virtually all recycled from earlier announcements.

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Those of a particularly conspiratorial nature will conclude that the chancellor is busy hobbling any cabinet colleagues who might want to stand in what is virtually certain, pretty soon, to be a Conservative Party leadership contest, just as the chancellor cleverly tied the PM into a joint newspaper article confirming that the rise in National Insurance will go ahead, when the PM had been busy sending out signals behind the scenes to unhappy backbenchers that it could be reconsidered.

Is that it? The government’s levelling up white paper

The truth is rather more prosaic. The Treasury is seriously alarmed that the public finances are spiralling out of control, and the chancellor is politically alarmed by the cost of living crisis fast coming up on the rails. As far as the Treasury is concerned, levelling up is a luxury that cannot be afforded.

So we have a document that reads more like a university thesis rather than a set of policies. We are treated to thoughts on the Italian renaissance, to the Medici model, and to our own industrial revolution back in the eighteenth century. That, and musings on geographical disparities, take up the first hundred pages. This is followed by a further sixty pages of often abstract observations on systems, and it is only on page 159 that we actually get on to the policies. Even then, much of what is there is a rehash of existing government announcements.

According to the newspapers a couple of days before the document was released, Michael Gove himself thought that the white paper was rubbish, except he is alleged to have used a rather more earthy word which I will spare the refined readers of Passenger Transport.

So what of the transport elements in the white paper? These fill fewer than ten pages.

And with new money in short supply, the document instead relies on structural change to make an impact.

Perhaps the biggest pledge is to devolve further powers to local level. The document states: “By 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution and a simplified, long-term funding settlement.”

This is welcome, especially the idea of simplifying budgets and providing a longer budget settlement period to allow proper planning. Rail for a long time has operated within five-year control periods. We need to move towards that at local authority level.

Specifically on transport, the white paper says: “By 2030 local public transport connectivity across the country will be significantly closer to the standards of London, with improved services, simpler fares and integrated ticketing.”

This is also welcome, but again not new.

It essentially repeats the pledge to extend Pay-As-You-Go as referred to in the recent policy paper on rail. This, by the way, effectively www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 17:02

“I think the government means well, but overall the effect is incoherent” brings in single leg pricing by the back door, another welcome change. The £360m dedicated to extending contactless ticketing comes from the last Conservative Party manifesto.

And note the repeated use of the 2030 date throughout the paper. Call me cynical, but like the government’s ambitious net zero target, this puts delivery day well past the next election, and the one after that.

In fairness, the government does seem genuinely committed to rolling out the London model, which is a good thing and realistically can indeed be achieved by 2030.

This model sets a daily cap across all public transport traction modes, and has undoubtedly played a significant part in driving up public transport use in the capital. Sadiq Khan, though, may have had a wry smile about the citing of London as a model to follow when it is presently facing cuts to services and above inflation increases in fares, a scenario he lays firmly at the door of the government.

And look again at the quote above. It does not refer to the cost of travelling, though in its paper, the government clearly accepts high fares are a bar to passenger usage. But then again, how could they not?

One of the more encouraging parts of the document is the innovative approach planned for Cornwall. Here is a place where bus services have improved markedly but the high cost of fares has dampened growth. So we are to see a pilot project, to start shortly, which will reduce fares by about 30% in a new Superbus network. Moreover, the bus services will be linked with GWR rail services under a new banner of Transport for Cornwall.

I have always believed that reducing fares can in some circumstances lead to higher income as the extra number of paying passengers outweighs the loss on an individual sale.

Some years ago I persuaded Southern to cut the price of season tickets between Lewes and Eastbourne. They reduced by a third and Southern, which had really agreed to the pilot just to get me off their backs, actually made a small profit on the initiative.

Meanwhile, a whole lot of cars disappeared from the parallel A27. Result: cheaper fares for passengers, more money for Southern, less congestion on the road. And all at no cost to the taxpayer. What’s not to like?

So we need more such schemes. The white paper also promises what it calls “ambitious www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Prime minister Boris Johnson and ‘levelling up secretary’ Michael Gove launched the white paper last week with a visit to Blackpool Transport

“We are in danger in 2022 of creating a vicious circle where public transport services get worse ... while the government sets out ambitious plans for 2030” plans for bus improvement, enhancing services and reducing fares” in other selected areas. Stoke-on-Trent, Portsmouth, Luton, Warrington and Derbyshire are mentioned.

This, I assume, is some cherry-picking from the yet to be announced outcome to the BSIP (Bus Service Improvement Plan) process.

Again, this is all very welcome.

The crux of the matter, however, is that the genuine aspirations from the Department for Transport, which really does want to deliver big improvements to public transport, are tempered by matters external to them.

One of these is the backwash from Covid, which has seen a car-based recovery and where rail in particular is struggling to reclaim passengers, not least because home working has now become a standard option for many.

The consequence of this is that rail operators have been asked by the government to save 10% in costs, which in turn means the sorts of service cuts we are now seeing. Meanwhile, commercial bus operators are looking at real deep cuts for the first time, for even though bus has recovered better than rail, it is still way short of its pre-pandemic passenger numbers.

Then there is the Treasury, which wants cuts to public revenue funding for rail and

bus and has yet even to agree to an extension of emergency funding past the end of March. Meanwhile, it continues a 12-year freeze on fuel duty for private motorists and lorry drivers.

We are in danger in 2022 of creating a vicious circle where public transport services get worse and fares get hiked up, leading to increased modal shift to road, while the government sets out ambitious plans for 2030.

I think the government means well, but overall the effect is incoherent. The various levers they have their hands on are pulling transport in opposite directions.

The white paper correctly says: “There has been no shortage of attempts to tackle geographical disparities in the UK over the past century. These have been insufficient to close the widening gaps.”

Sadly, this latest attempt looks likely to continue that trend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Norman Baker served as transport minister from May 2010 until October 2013. He was Lib Dem MP for Lewes between 1997 and 2015.

11 February 2022 | 19

09/02/2022 17:02

COMMENT JOURNEY EXPERIENCE

ALEX WARNER

The simple pleasures of a journey by bus A recent trip led me to reflect on one of the key selling points of bus travel - interactions with people and the passing streetscape On Tuesday, I had a meeting with probably the most senior person I ever met. It was in Northolt, of all places and I had spent a few days worrying about how to get there - only nine miles from home yet, for someone who can’t drive, a torturous trek. I even contemplated staying the night before as I was passing close by on the way back from Birmingham. As it was, I decided to place my trust not in Uber, but in a good-old-fashioned bus service, an hourly service as well for the longest leg of the journey.

This isn’t an ‘old school’ ‘Travel Test’ article, but rather some reflections on the future of the bus sector at a time when some might say it is confronting an existential crisis. Others, like me, feel the sector has the potential to reinvent itself while drawing on some of the strengths that have kept it together all these decades.

After much debate with ‘Er Indoors, what clinched the decision to travel by bus, traversing the outskirts of London, was that we agreed it was actually a relaxing experience. She had noted that generally the one time when I actually wind down, ignore my phone and all the noise of work and other stress, was when I sit for long periods on a bus watching the world go by. As customers come and go, I take in the scenery; all the trivial minutiae of daily life, cats sitting on rooftops or in front windows, folk huddling in coffee bars near bus stops keeping warm whilst waiting for their bus, Royal Mail posties emptying boxes. And on a journey from one slightly untidy part of North West Surrey 20 | 11 February 2022 PT258p20-21.indd 20

to cluttered and sometimes chaotic Middlesex (my two favourite counties by a long shot), this bustling, meandering, partly quirky experience was heaven at a point in the working week when I’d ordinarily be ground down by the giddying intensity of Teams calls.

It’s the simplicity of bus travel that is indeed its biggest asset. In updating the proposition to make it increasingly relevant, we shouldn’t lose sight of what made it so great in the first place. Such simplicity has at its core not just the landscape of everyday life that is visible from the window, but the on-board offer as well. On my return journey, firstly from Shepperton to Hatton Cross on the 555 run by Hallmark, I witnessed driver friendliness that was so good it was as if those at the wheel had just graduated

We need to enthuse young people about bus travel benefits

from one of my ‘Delight the Customer’ training courses. At 07:21 when boarding the bus, there genuinely can be few more uplifting experiences to set you up for the day, than a beaming driver who asks with profound sincerity, including perfect eye contact, “Hi, how are you today? Everything okay with you?”.

‘Er Indoors was fast asleep when I left the house and the bus driver was, as I suspect for many others, the first person I set eyes on and interacted with that morning. He recycled my pleasantry with equal empathy and conviction to every single customer, as well as thanking them profusely when they alighted and turning his body 90 degrees as everyone boarded to check they had taken their seats safely.

So too, on my return journey later that evening, our driver turned round and announced each stop to customers, asking everyone if they wanted to alight - to which a rather enthusiastic customer kept repeating the location to others to double check they had heard him properly. Such simple acts of kindness and humanity touched my journey, including seeing customers saying ‘hello’ to each other and making polite conversation. When I alighted, home at the end of the journey, the driver said, “Was that okay, sir? Was the journey alright, hope it was a success. I do try my best?”.

It was a journey of convivial gaiety and a general upbeat spirit - one which had a tint of nostalgia, as I passed the office at Heathrow where the craziness of family life all began, when I first met my wife nearly 24 years ago.

We often forget that for every journey from a customer, personal emotions are never far away.

This was a trip that took place the day before I attended a funeral borne of appalling tragedy and the journey back home on the bus had ever mounting concern for me due to the sickness of my son. The driver’s pleasantness as I rushed off the bus to get indoors and discover his welfare was a small but significant and uplifting gesture.

Let’s not get too gushing though because this was a journey that also highlighted the strides that the bus sector still needs to make to ensure that it doesn’t just appeal in the future to converts like me, who actually welcome a meandering deviation from the stress of daily life and who have few other alternatives being a non-car driver. Where a trip involves Transport for London and ‘county’ services, it is still poorly connected. Unless you are aware www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 17:45

“It’s the simplicity of bus travel that is indeed its biggest asset” of apps such as Moovit (and frankly I think most people aren’r), it’s nigh on impossible to decipher how to make a single journey, without ‘Googling’ 555 bus Shepperton and then looking at a TfL map to see whether once I’d got to Hatton Cross, if it was possible to then get to Northolt. Oh for an equivalent of National Rail Enquiries covering every bus trip in the UK. And then, when changing at Hatton Cross, it would be great to determine easily which stop to use. I spent some time confused waiting in the forecourt for a 90 which ran in the opposite direction before seeing that my stop was actually on the main road.

Then we have ‘network planning’. The 90 service seemed fairly direct from Hatton Cross to Northolt, whereas the 555 went round the block, so much so that on my way home and trying to get back as quickly as possible to tend for my son, I was tempted to phone my wife and ask her to drive and meet me halfway so I could speed things up. I’d like to think that copious demographic and customer insight has been undertaken to prove to me that the route taken is genuinely the most compelling and efficient for customers, though having lifted the bonnet of many bus companies I’m not entirely convinced. It doesn’t have the feel of scenarios such as the owner of our hugely successful local coffee shop, spending weeks before opening up standing in the street monitoring footfall, or Stagecoach co-founder Sir Brian Souter hanging round McDonald’s restaurants observing the behaviour of passers by.

But my biggest gripe is the lack of cross Heathrow services - it’s the same the other side of London - the City seems to be split into four quadrants with very few direct vertical services, such that customers travelling from Surrey to Middlesex or Kent to Essex find it easier to venture into Central London and out, or go by car, taxi or Uber or maybe not make a journey at all.

So too, integration in terms of fares is needed.

It cost me £4.20 each way just on the 555.

I didn’t know I was going to return by bus, so there would have been a cheaper version admittedly, but £8.40 seems steep. Then there was the bus fare to Northolt and subsequent tapping in and out on the Piccadilly line back to Hatton Cross via Acton Town later, because I was combining the trip with some mystery shopping assignments as part of my ‘day job’.

I have no idea how much the TfL contactless www.passengertransport.co.uk

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element cost, but am confident it will have been capped, but if it could be consolidated with the 555 contactless payment made, then I would have gained confidence that the round trip had been good value, as opposed to having a nagging feeling that an Uber may have enjoyed not too far short of parity in terms of the fare.

There’s also the issue of journey information and reliability. I genuinely suspect (and I’m not trying to sound all elitist) that on the 555 or 90 bus that day, I was one of a tiny handful of people who was suited and booted. Please don’t take this as arrogance but when folk asked me how I had got there and I said I’d caught the bus, there was complete and utter incredulity and I genuinely for a fleeting second wondered whether I’d made myself look a bit silly in telling this to the VIP who was hosting the meeting. Being truthful, with an hourly frequency on my first journey, I left an hour earlier than I needed as a contingency, and I didn’t even trust the timetable information on the website or the bus stop (previous operators of that route have failed to provide consistent details across all their channels). It would have been easy again to locate a website that showed the real time running of my bus. I know one exists, but it would have been great to have seen this advertised at the bus stop - again, if there were a ‘one stop shop’ National Rail Enquiries equivalent for the bus then that would be an invaluable aid.

However, no complaints either on the 555 or 90 - the buses were on time and utterly spotless, the drivers faultless (including the lady on the 90 who, although she didn’t know the intricacies of how to proceed to my end destination when alighting, tried her best and was apologetic - before two ladies followed me down the street and gave me advice. Again, another reminder of the power of simple humanity!

My trip was a timely reminder of how much I love buses at a time when the sector is being let down on funding promises, struggling with driver shortages and a young generation that wants everything on-demand. My children are all great believers in the environment and sustainable living, but despite their Old Man working in the bus sector, they would not have the slightest clue what bus goes where or even where the bus stop is (diagonally outside our front door) or even how to board a bus. ‘I’ll get an Uber’ is their stock phrase if Mum can’t

drive them to where they want to go, not that they go out of the house remotely as much as I did at their age - again, another societal issue that we’re up against in transport. They think travelling by bus is another one of those dying quirky concepts that Dad likes, such as model railways, trainspotting, county cricket and non-league football.

If we are to get them on-board, we must be fixated with presenting an integrated proposition - a one stop shop (and well known) operator, an agnostic source for information regarding their specific end-to-end journey, what ticket to purchase and determine the whereabouts of their bus. We must also celebrate the elements of bus travel that we think don’t matter to young people but actually do - like the kind of friendly bus drivers I discovered last week, or the fact that the bus was alive with convivial customers chatting to each other, or that it meandered relaxingly, allowing those customers who didn’t want to chat to retreat into their own world, and listen to music on their headphones (by Stanwell Moor, I was having the time of my life enjoying old Status Quo songs)! It’s not just the environmentally friendly aspects of bus travel that could appeal to youngsters of today.

The simplicity of human life can be uplifting - lockdown saw folk stop the clock and appreciate simple things like birds tweeting and walks in the park, as well as rekindle their hobbies of old and, of course, question the complexity of modern-day life, including the daily commute. An old-fashioned bus (providing it is clean and road-worthy), with a driver with similarly old-fashioned values, making a journey that might not be able to achieve the holy grail of going the most direct, fastest route from A to B so that it can serve as many customers as possible, isn’t something to feel ashamed about. This isn’t me being nostalgic or not moving with the times - after all, some tweaking is needed still - but it’s about not rushing to destroy what has served us so well for decades just because it feels less relevant now than before.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alex Warner has over 28 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector

11 February 2022 | 21

09/02/2022 17:45

COMMENT LEVELLING UP

NICK RICHARDSON

Are we levelling up or levelling down?

Levelling up is in many ways a return to the regional transport planning of past decades - but is it making any progress?

Levelling up is all about government interventions in an economy that has resulted in some places faring better than others with some stark contrasts across the UK. After a decade of austerity, large sums of money are now being allocated in an effort to remediate areas where the economy is in decline. There are other funding pots available but the Levelling up Fund (LUF) aims to stimulate economic growth in selected areas. The £4.8bn LUF support features upgrading local transport among other things so we could reasonably expect that some showcase transport schemes will result. It also involves decentralising power and working more directly with local partners ‘who are best placed to understand the needs of their local areas and more closely aligned to the local economic geographies to deliver quickly on the ground’ according to the UK Government.

Bridging gaps The North-South divide is an oversimplification, but transport spend is not distributed evenly between the two.

Economists will put forward the value for money reasoning that the best returns on investment are achieved where economic activity is strongest; this fails on several fronts because it creates economic overheating (evidenced by the pre-pandemic demand for travel to work in major centres) but disadvantages areas of low productivity. In practice, for every agglomeration benefit there 22 | 11 February 2022 PT258p22-23.indd 22

is a disagglomeration benefit somewhere else so the spatial imbalance becomes more acute.

What should be of interest is opportunity, especially where a workforce is available.

Careful spending decisions in the right place could work wonders alongside a calming of the political divide, although motives have been questioned when funding announcements have been made. Thus, investment to upgrade local transport should have huge benefits if it is an appropriate solution in certain locations.

Levelling up is in many ways a return to the regional planning of past decades in which spend was directed to areas that needed it. As Bus Back Better envisaged coordinated bus networks

an intervention in the market, this aimed to overcome the trajectories of better off areas continuing to prosper and those in decline getting worse, largely based on adjusting the labour market. Hence car factories were located where there was a need to create jobs and office occupiers were incentivised to locate where local economies needed a boost.

While many of these have gone full circle and been superseded, there continue to be targeted investments, most recently by establishing a battery manufacturing centre in Blyth, Northumberland. Regarding funding, some of the amounts awarded are substantial and there has been a welcome for foreign funding too such as for the energy sector.

The decision not to pursue the eastern leg of HS2 speaks volumes after raised expectations and an apparent wish to make better connections between parts of the North. The role of HS2 in levelling up does not appear to include a large tract of industrial Britain. While the improvements badged as Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) are long overdue, whatever improvements result need to acknowledge the reasons why people travel and the consequences for local economies and the environment. Regrettably it appears that parts of NPR are being let go with the consequence that it doesn’t quite function as a network. Short term financial expediency is not a good excuse after billions of pounds have been pointed in multiple directions or when plans are diluted, undermining the longer term benefits.

Regional or local?

Containing commuter distances would actually be more productive than linking cities on the assumption that this provides the greatest benefits. This is highlighted by the whole HS2 debate: journey times are not necessarily improved if the main section of the journey is fast because people need to get to the point of access. In other words, if it takes ages to get to the station, people won’t get the train. More explicitly, inter-regional transport links are only as good as the local connectivity that supports them. To address this, we need to sort out local transport, as the LUF intends, in addition to inter-regional links. Given that most journeys could be defined as ‘local’, it makes sense to place greater emphasis on them.

For local transport, we know that more of the same has a limited effect in the big picture www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 18:13

IN ASSOCIATION WITH: www.ciltuk.org.uk Tel: 01536 740100 @ciltuk

of Net Zero/climate change and sustainability.

Substantial change is needed to achieve any lasting effect. Transport should be measured by what it achieves rather than simply what it provides. Supporting local transport is the means to supporting local economies with flexible labour markets, affordable housing and local facilities. It could be argued that levelling up is a reinvention of the regional planning of the past; this included the Regional Assemblies and associated agencies with Regional Spatial Strategies that were revoked in 2010 in favour of localism, something else that has gone away. The earlier approach largely considered labour markets but also determined where new towns and expanded towns should be. The most successful of these new towns were built where transport links were available, but some still suffer from poor access. Hence national became regional then local, none on their own fitting the bill for sustainable development or managed economic activity. All were tainted with the emphasis on new infrastructure above anything else with the result that proper control was lost in the competition for funding. Some of this was directed towards transport but, in common with the more recent Local Economic Partnerships, marginalised mass transit in favour of new roads. If a combination of linked national, regional and local structures were in place and depoliticised then we may have generated a workable system. Having acquired a Masters degree in Regional Planning a long time ago, the most recent interventions seem to me to be inadequate and uncoordinated.

Unpicking the LUF first round allocations substantiate this. Of the £1.7bn made available, 88% was awarded to areas outside what could be regarded as the South East. Interestingly, transport schemes accounted for only 22% of the funding, some of which was for road improvements. Having said that, there are other funds available through competitive bidding so the levelling up process may not be as transparent as it appears. Inevitably not all the bidders were successful but 56 constituencies would benefit of which 47 have Conservative MPs including 14 gained from Labour at the last election with nine having Labour MPs according to BBC News (March 4, 2021). Furthermore, the Public Accounts Committee of MPs said they were ‘not convinced by the rationales for www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Levelling up is in many ways a return to regional planning - a recent example is the plan to establish a battery manufacturing centre in Northumberland

selecting some towns and not others’ and ‘The justification offered by ministers for selecting individual towns are vague and based on sweeping assumptions’. The implication is of an unclear selection process which excludes some potential beneficiaries on the grounds of politics rather than evidenced need. If there is a serious intention to level up, then local transport schemes should be emerging everywhere including new light rail systems and coordinated bus networks as envisaged by England’s bus strategy and those for other parts of the UK. However, this needs to be thought through in terms of outcomes and distribution and include walking and cycling and local rail services as well. Personal mobility at a local level is really important to connect people with the services they need on an equitable basis.

Only by improving local transport networks will other aspects of levelling up be achieved e.g. town centre regenerations and cultural and heritage revivals.

Readjustment Instead of inviting bids by area, the job of central government is to guide investment and if this is regional planning as levelling up implies, then the requirements should be clear and comprehensive. Directing funding

to where it is most needed would be helpful and these may well be the places that haven’t got sufficient resources to complete a bid never mind deliver improvements. Since the industrial revolution we have seen the benefits of investment in transport although some were misguided or poorly timed so a spatiallybased distribution should have predictable outcomes.

Unfortunately, concepts of integrated networks and comprehensive improvements seem to be lost, even in the context of decarbonisation; the result is sporadic interventions that are more about short term gains than long term stabilisation. Transport is key to making places better so we should be looking forward to improved and new mass transit systems rather than trying to justify a fragmented approach.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nick Richardson is Technical Principal at transport consultancy Mott MacDonald, chair of CILT’s Bus and Coach Policy Group and a former chair of the Transport Planning Society. In addition, he has held a PCV licence for over 30 years.

11 February 2022 | 23

09/02/2022 18:13

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09/02/2022 17:54

“Reform has to happen, and road pricing is the obvious solution”

COMMENT

GREAT MINSTER GRUMBLES

An honest debate about road pricing?

Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT

As the Treasury demands savings of at least 10% on the rail budget, ushering in a period of service cuts which have the potential to become permanent, it’s worth reminding ourselves that we will soon have to announce the next High Level Output Specification (HLOS) and Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) for Control Period 7 (CP7). Based on the timeframe for the publication for the HLOS and SoFA for CP6, which was July 2017, the HLOS and SoFA for CP7 will be published this coming July, all things being equal.

Something tells me that the Treasury is going to be rather less generous this time round than it was for the SoFAs for CP5 and CP6. I can see the hawks in the Treasury saying that if there are fewer people travelling by rail, and fewer services resulting in less wear and tear on the infrastructure, there is less of a need to spend money on maintenance and renewals.

It’s a false argument of course, as even if you run just one passenger service a day you still need the highest standards of safety. But I can see the Treasury hawks running that line!

We shall see what emerges.

Of course, there is something of a vicious circle in play right now. Service cuts are being imposed - and some of them are quite significant. This in turn is causing some overcrowding and delays, which can all too easily put people off from using the train. So as we ask the train operators to cut services, we are creating a situation which will deter people from returning to the railways - and www.passengertransport.co.uk

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this is before fares go up. Fare income will be depressed, putting yet more pressure on the railway’s finances. We have to break this vicious circle otherwise we are in danger of overseeing a decline in rail usage, the opposite of what the Williams-Shapps Rail Review was all about. Bus services are also likely to be cut over the coming weeks.

All of which neatly brings me to the Transport Select Committee’s recent report on its road pricing inquiry. As the committee

has pointed out, in the absence of any change to motoring taxation, the income from fuel duty and vehicle excise duty will dwindle to zero over the course of the next 20 years or so, given that electric cars don’t pay these motoring taxes. So as we increasingly transition to an all-electric car fleet by 2030, the income from these two motoring taxes is dwindling. Reform has to happen, and road pricing is the obvious solution.

So I was pleased to see the select committee recommend that an independent arm’s length body be set up to evaluate preferred options to replace fuel duty and vehicle excise duty, with recommendations to be made by the end of the year. But my difficulty with the select committee report is that it’s also recommended that any road pricing scheme should not result in motorists paying more than they currently do in fuel duty and vehicle excise duty. At one level I can see the logic of this if road pricing is to be accepted by the motorist/voter. But road pricing has, historically at least, always been seen as a way of encouraging modal shift to public transport, and that can only really be achieved if it results in road pricing raising additional tax income. If any road pricing scheme is to be tax neutral then one of its core, historical, objectives won’t be realised.

And it’s worth pointing out that the motorist has had a pretty good time of it in recent years, what with the freeze in fuel duty, for example.

The relative cost of motoring has gone down over the years, while the cost of travelling by public transport has gone up. It’s time for the motorist to pay more in tax than they have done and a road pricing scheme has the potential to facilitate that, while still being fair by ensuring that those who use the roads the most and at the busiest times, or who make only short journeys which could be made by other modes, feel the pain in their pockets.

But then I’m not a politician and, as we know, politicians have historically run a mile from the very idea of road pricing. But who knows, might the Transport Select Committee be the peg on which we finally start to have an honest public debate about the merits of road pricing? If it is, it might be one of those rare occasions when a select committee has, for once, actually made a positive contribution to government policy. It will be interesting to see how our ministers respond to the select committee report.

11 February 2022 | 25

09/02/2022 17:54

CAREERS

ADL sponsors diversity group Bus manufacturer is the first of its peers to join the growing Women in Transport network Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis has announced it has joined the UK’s Women in Transport network as the first bus manufacturer to become a corporate member. ADL will champion diversity and inclusion in the bus industry through sponsorship of a working group, while providing networking and professional development opportunities for team members.

Women in Transport is a notfor-profit that empowers women to maximise their potential.

Membership - which will be open to any ADL team member wishing to engage - provides access to a varied events programme, networking opportunities, annual mentoring, a leadership development programme and the All Party Parliamentary Group for women

GO-AHEAD AIMS FOR APPRENTICES

Group reveals plans to expand apprentice schemes Go-Ahead has set a target to hire 1,100 bus and rail apprentices in 2022 and the London-based group is aiming to target career switchers who have reassessed their employment plans in response to Covid.

The group claims it is the biggest provider of apprentice training in the sector, hiring 50 apprentice bus drivers per week in London alone in 2021. Last year across the group, Go-Ahead hired 1,030 apprentices in total. In addition to school leavers, 26 | 11 February 2022 PT258p26-27.indd 26

in transport.

ADL will sponsor the Diversity and Inclusion Bus Group, which seeks to promote the benefits of diversity and inclusion and improve perceptions of the bus industry while attracting a diverse workforce which represents the industry’s customer base.

The group meets around four times a year, progressing various workstreams and sharing learning, knowledge and expertise.

Jacqueline Anderson, ADL group marketing director, said: “At ADL, we share the transport sector’s ambition to better reflect the country’s demographics in our team. The fantastic work done by Women in Transport resonates strongly with us and we look forward to taking an active role in this vital network.”

the group takes on apprentices of all ages, including many career switchers who are seeking a new start in transport.

Govia Thameslink Railway has revealed it exceeded its 2021 target of 200 apprentices by almost 20% with the train operator providing new career opportunities for 239 people.

GTR said the 31-40-year old age group has played a considerable role in this uptake, accounting for almost 40% of the total number of apprentices from 2017 to 2021.

On top of this, the company has succeeded in recruiting a greater number of women and black and minority ethnic candidates.

APPOINTMENTS STAGECOACH GROUP Stagecoach has announced the appointment of Greg Ritt as head of sustainability, a newly created post.

Ritt (pictured) joins the Perthbased group from Rothschild & Co where he was group environment manager leading on global operations environmental management, including the development of strategy, policy, targets, and governance across 50 countries. His experience in sustainability spans over 12 years, working in Australia, Singapore and the UK. Commenting on his new position, Ritter said: “I can see how passionate Stagecoach is about sustainability and I am excited to join the group and help make our new sustainability plans a reality.”

CILT (UK) The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport has named Paul Sainthouse as the organisation’s new international president. Sainthouse (pictured) is managing director of Dawsongroup Bus and Coach, a position that he has held since 2002. The business owns and operates close to 2,000 passenger vehicles in the UK and Ireland. He is also a member of the Dawsongroup plc advisory board.

A patron of the London Transport Museum, he is a freeman of the City of London, and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Carmen. Sainthouse succeeds outgoing president Dato’ Dr Ts Abd Radzak Abd Malek, a long-standing member of CILT Malaysia.

ABELLIO LONDON Abellio London has announced the appointment of Chris Remnant as engineering director.

Remnant (pictured) takes up the role previously held by Jon Eardley, who has been promoted to MD (PT257). He joins from Stagecoach London where he had been engineering director since 2018. He began his career as an apprentice mechanic in Chepstow, South Wales and held a variety of roles around the country during a 26-year long career with Stagecoach.

Commenting on his new role, he said: “I’m delighted to be on board at Abellio London Bus as a forward-thinking, people orientated business. I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to lead the delivery of many exciting, industry-leading projects during 2022 and far beyond.”

OFFICE OF RAIL AND ROAD Transport secretary Grant Shapps has appointed Xavier Brice, Dr Daniel Ruiz and Catherine Waller as non-executive Directors of the Office of Rail and Road for the next five years following an open competition. They join the existing board of eight members.

Brice has been chief executive of the sustainable transport charity Sustrans since 2016 and Ruiz is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Highway and Transportation and has pursued a diverse career in transport mobility and innovation.

Meanwhile, Waller has 25 years’ retail and consultancy experience and has been a non-executive director of ITSO since 2018.

www.passengertransport.co.uk

09/02/2022 18:02

CALL NOW TO ADVERTISE 020 3950 8000 or email sales@passengertransport.co.uk

LNER NAMED AS TOP EMPLOYER

Train operator wins staff award for another year Train operator LNER has been named as a UK top employer for another year by the Top Employers Institute. The award recognises the East Coast intercity operator for its “excellent work in areas including employee health and wellbeing, work environment and performance development”.

Commenting on the accreditation, people director Karen Lewis said: “At LNER we recognise that our people are the beating heart of our organisation. Receiving the Top Employer award for another year is testament to our commitment and genuine passion for providing the very best experience for every member of our team. We begin and end by creating an adaptive, inclusive and authentic culture that both

supports and challenges our people at every stage of their LNER career journey.

“We also know that our people want to work in an organisation that has a positive impact on the local community, which is why we are proud of all that has been achieved over the last year by our LNER Reserves, who have gone above and beyond to help those in need throughout the pandemic.”

The Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognising excellence in people practices, certifying organisations based on the participation and results of their HR Best Practices Survey.

Top Employers Institute CEO David Plink said: “Despite the challenging year we have experienced, which has certainly made an impact on organisations around the globe, LNER has continued to demonstrate the power of putting their people first in the workplace.

ONLINE VACANCIES Visit our website passengertransport.co.uk - for information about these vacancies: Scottish Rail Holdings Rail Business Director Financial Controller Company Secretary Business Manager Administrator Personal Assistant (PA) Go-Ahead London Experienced Schedule Compiler Trainee Schedule Compiler Transport for Wales Timetable Strategy Manager Advertise your vacancy online for £150, or online AND in print from £250!

Call 020 3950 8000 or email sales@passengertransport.co.uk

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DIVERSIONS

The perils of sleeping past your station When you wake up in international waters...

Nigel Harris, the editor of RAIL magazine, recently revealed that in his haste to catch a train from London King’s Cross to Peterborough, he’d ended up on the wrong train - an LNER service where the first stop was, er York.

After confessing his mistake to Twitter, some of the replies were quite entertaining. Amid the myriad of mistakes and missteps, Twitter user @SimonZev revealed he’d fallen asleep on a Danish train.

Nigel’s on the tiles

MORE THAN THE RANK AND TILE

We’re always being told how bus services are deeply embedded in their local communities, so hats off to designer Ray Stenning on Best Impressions and First Bus’s

The Öresund bridge is an ‘orrible place to suddenly wake up

“Could be worse Nigel,” they wrote. “I once got on a train where I snoozed past my stop and woke up on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, so accidentally went to a different country!”

operation in the Potteries.

When it came to refurbishing a fleet of 25 buses for routes serving local communities in Hanley, Burslem, Kidsgrove and Tunstall, Ray and local First Bus boss Nigel Eggleton had a great idea - why not recreate a Minton tiled floor on the vehicles?

The complex flooring design was a challenge to produce and fit but through the close collaboration of all involved, including flooring manufacturer Altro with a special mention to the staff who fitted it at

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RALPH’S ENERGY PRICE WOES Energy price rises are in the news and Ralph Roberts, head honcho at Scottish operator McGill’s and 2022 CPT president revealed it’s going to hit his growing fleet of electric buses.

“Devastating news from my procurement team,” he wrote on Twitter. “Given the upcoming HUGE % increase in electricity (increase of £624k per annum.”

So what did the McGill’s procurement team suggest to mitigate the problem?

Hopefully tongue-in-cheek, Ralph said: “They are advising that we charge our zero emission buses by diesel generators...”

refurbishment specialists Bus and Coach World, the end result is a statement and perfect tribute to the Minton legacy from years gone by in the Potteries area.

“Local bus services are exactly that - local, bespoke and with an artisan bent,” said Ray. “It was entirely appropriate to pay tribute to the great tile-making traditions of the area and, using modern technologies, recreate a Minton style tile floor for these buses that run right through the heart of the Potteries towns.”

Fabulous work!

Routemasters at the ready

ANOTHER RETURN TO IMBER, PLEASE Fancy taking a Routemaster bus (or some even older or more modern London types) to an abandoned village in the middle of the Salisbury Plain army training ground? Of course you do.

The organisers of the annual Imberbus event have announced that it will take place this year on Saturday August 20. At the moment, the arrangements for 2022 are expected to be broadly similar to last year, but the organisers say further information will be posted in due course on the event website imberbus.org.

Fingers crossed it all happens and judging on previous experience, pack a brolly!

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