Passenger Transport: April 8, 2022

FO EV RT ER NI Y GH T

ISSUE 262 8 APRIL 2022

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS FOR A SECTOR ON THE MOVE

Wales moves to take control of bus services

Welsh Government is bringing forward legislation for bus franchising to create an ‘easy to use’ bus network that can challenge car dependency “For more than 70 years we have made it easy to travel by car and harder to travel by public transport, that has to change.”

Those were the words of Wales’s deputy climate change minister, Lee Waters, as he unveiled plans to bring forward legislation to change the way bus services are delivered across Wales. The bus white paper for Wales, published on March 31, proposes bus franchising.

Waters said designing a system that is “easy to use, easy to access and well connected” would be his top priority to offer people a “real sustainable transport alternative” to the private car.

Lee Waters wants to turn the tide in favour of buses

FULL STORY: PAGES 6-7

ScotRail back under public control First minister sees opportunity to deliver a railway focussed on customers and staff ScotRail coming under public control and ownership heralds a new beginning that puts passengers and staff at the heart of rail services, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Speaking at Glasgow Queen Street Station on April 1, Sturgeon marked the transition date that means ScotRail services will be delivered by a Scottish Government-owned operator. The first minister said: “This new beginning creates a real opportunity to deliver a railway which

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is for the nation, and fully focused on being run for the benefit of its users - customers, staff and stakeholders, as opposed to shareholders.”

Alex Hynes, Scotland’s Railway managing director, said: “This is a

“This is a very important day for Scotland’s Railway” Alex Hynes

very important day for Scotland’s Railway, and it is a significant moment as we make the transition to public ownership. It’s an exciting new chapter and provides us with a fantastic opportunity to shape the future for rail travel in Scotland.”

As part of the efforts to encourage people back to rail, a ‘Yours to Use’ promotion ran on April 2-3, enabling each fare paying adult to take up to four children free of charge anywhere in Scotland.

NEWS

Government urged to back up BSIP spend

04

DfT shares out £1bn - but is it enough?

NEWS

Go-Ahead favours bus expansion

06

New chief executive unveils his strategy

ENVIRONMENT

‘On track’ with zero emission bus pledge?

12

DfT makes claim after £198m spend

COMMENT

A nudge in the wrong direction

16

Norman Baker on perverse price signals

COMMENT

Workplace Reform

18

Alex Warner considers the task

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06/04/2022 17:31

CONTENTS

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

Bus strategy’s momentum must not be lost After Boris Johnson unveiled his National Bus Strategy for England in March 2021, transport experts Leon Daniels and Thomas Ableman agreed three questions that would determine its progress (PT238): 1. Have the plans been written?

Robert Jack 2. Has the money turned up? 3. How many Managing Editor hundreds of miles of bus lanes have been built?

The good news is that 79 Bus Service Improvement Plans were written and submitted to the Department for Transport. Some were very good, others were poor. We now know that 31 of these plans will be backed up with funding, but most will miss out. Their bus transformation will have to be achieved without a financial leg-up.

Has the money turned up? Yes, but it’s unclear when or if we will see the £3bn that was initially promised. What does or does not constitute part of this investment appears to be deliberately opaque.

For example, the promised 4,000 zero emission buses now appears to include vehicles purchased by Transport for London and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The final test is perhaps the most important. A widespread reallocation of roadspace towards buses will unlock enormous cost savings and journey time benefits. Those who received funding must now implement bus priority measures alongside other enhancements and deliver something that other areas are keen to emulate. They must ensure that the National Bus Strategy’s momentum is not lost.

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, John Nelson OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS Passenger Transport Publishing Ltd PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX, UNITED KINGDOM Telephone (all enquiries):

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address. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the publisher’s written permission.

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IN THIS ISSUE 22

DELIVERING BUS INFRASTRUCTURE

20

YORKSHIRE HAS STRONG CLAIM FOR GBR

24

PIVOTING AWAY FROM RUSSIAN OIL AND GAS

25

MICRO-MANAGEMENT ON AN EPIC SCALE?

Bus Back Better called for wholesale improvements to bus priority measures but it’s not always that simple to deliver. “If the aspirations of the national bus strategy are to be met, then a lot needs to be done,” says Nick Richardson.

ORGANISATION

PAGE

Adventure Travel 8-9 Alexander Dennis 14 Arriva Kent Thameside 10 Arriva London 10 Avanti West Coast 7 Blackpool Transport 12 Brighton & Hove 10 Bus Users 4-5 CBT 4-5, 8-9 ComfortDelGro 8-9 CPT Cymru 8-9 CPT UK 4-5, 12 Deutsche Bahn 6 First West of England 14 Go-Ahead Group 6, 7, 12, 26 Go-Ahead London 6, 10, 26 Govia 7 Govia Thameslink Railway 7 GWR 14 HCT Group 10 HS2 Ltd 7 Kent County Council 10 London TravelWatch 10 London Underground 7 Metroline 10 Network Rail 7 Office of Rail and Road 7 Oxfordshire County Council 12 PTI Cymru 9 RATP Dev Transit London 10 Stagecoach Group 10, 12 Ticketer 14 Trams Operations Ltd 7 Transdev 26 Transport for London 7, 12 Transport for Wales 9 Transport North East 4-5 Urban Transport Group 4-5

The search is on for a new home for Great British Railways. John Nelson believes he has found the solution.

“In need of levelling-up? Well connected by rail? An existing hub of rail-related activities to build on?

York ticks all of these boxes.”

As the shocking events in Ukraine continue to unfold, governments around the world are in an increasing state of panic when it comes to the supply of commodities from Russia.

James Spencer says it won’t be easy to end this co-dependence.

Great Minster Grumbles: Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT. Our mole reveals the West Coast Partnership is micro-managed by no less than 29 Department officials.

REGULARS NEWS ENVIRONMENT INNOVATION & TECH COMMENT GRUMBLES CAREERS DIVERSIONS

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Government urged to back up BSIP spend The DfT this week announced the 31 authorities who will share over £1bn of funding to transform their bus services - but a great number will miss out FUNDING

The Department for Transport this week named 31 English counties, city regions and unitary authorities who will share £1bn of funding to support their Bus Service Improvement Plans. These plans are a central component of the government’s national bus strategy for England.

Almost half (48%) of the £1,084.3m allocated will be shared by five city regions. The rest is distributed among 26 authorities.

However, concerns have been raised that most (48) of the 79 authorities that submitted BSIPs ahead of last October’s deadline, as required by the government, won’t receive any of this funding.

The announcement was bundled with news of the indicative final settlements for City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements, with £5bn shared between seven mayoral combined authorities (see panel opposite).

A DfT statement said that the bus elements of CRSTS allocations, together with funding for BSIPs and zero emission buses (see page 12), “form part of the £3bn for bus transformation announced in 2020”. It pointed out that around £2bn had also been paid to support bus and light rail services during the pandemic.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “The investment we’re making today to ramp up the bus revolution will drive down fares at a time when people’s finances are tight and help connect communities across England.”

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INDICATIVE BUS SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PLAN FUNDING ALLOCATIONS Source: Department for Transport

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North East and North of Tyne West of England and North Somerset Greater Manchester West Midlands West Yorkshire Norfolk Portsmouth Derbyshire East Sussex Kent Blackburn with Darwen and Lancashire Stoke-on-Trent Hertfordshire Brighton and Hove Reading Luton Nottinghamshire City of York West Sussex Warrington Devon Cornwall (including Isles of Scilly) Oxfordshire Liverpool City Region Somerset Nottingham City Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Derby City North East Lincolnshire Central Bedfordshire West Berkshire

£M 163.5 105.5 94.8 87.9 70.0 49.6 48.3 47.0 41.4 35.1 34.2 31.7 29.7 27.9 26.3 19.1 18.7 17.4 17.4 16.2 14.1

There were warm words from those who received funding for BSIPs. Representing North East and North of Tyne, the largest recipient of this funding, Transport North East managing director Tobyn Hughes said: “We put forward a very strong plan, developed collaboratively with bus operators, Nexus, local authority partners, and a range of other supporters of bus services. This has been recognised by a funding award of £163.5m over three years.

This breaks down as £73,758,353 capital to prioritise buses on busy routes, and £89,762,819 revenue to support improved fares and services for local people.”

“The investment we’re making today to ramp up the bus revolution” Grant Shapps

He added: “This funding will allow us to dramatically transform bus services across the North East, greatly improving the bus network for millions of passengers and encouraging more people to make the switch to bus.”

‘Millions left disappointed’ Representing bus operators, the Confederation of Passenger Transport said the funding announcement was an important milestone in the government’s national bus strategy. However, it pointed out that the BSIP funding would have a limited impact and that pro-bus actions would need to be sustained. CPT analysis of BSIPs covering 72% of passenger services found they asked for a total of more than £7bn. Scaled up to take account of all BSIPs this would rise to around £10bn.

“It is important that we remember though that there will be millions of passengers left disappointed by today’s announcement as their local area missed out on funding,” CPT said.

“It’s vital that the government now clearly sets out future funding plans and policy initiatives for delivering its national bus strategy, including measures to reduce car use. This will ensure that today’s announcement is the beginning not the end of plans to improve

13.3 12.7 12.3 11.9 11.4 8.9 7.0 4.7 3.7 2.6

Portsmouth City Council was awarded £48m

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‘On track’ to meet zero emission bus pledge? Page 12 bus services across the country.

“A good place to start would be to confirm funding for the industry’s plan to deliver simpler and price capped ticketing across the country - a move that would improve bus services for passengers everywhere.”

Bus Users also raised concerns for those areas that were unsuccessful in their funding bids. Dawn Badminton-Capps, Bus Users director for England, said: “Many local authorities were unsuccessful ... despite facing rising costs and falling passenger numbers across their networks.

We are at risk of widening the transport gap and leaving communities cut off entirely from employment, education and vital services.

“For the national bus strategy to achieve the levelling-up promised by government we need more funding being made available to even more local authorities so no community is left behind.”

Campaign for Better Transport also called for increased funding.

It warned that buses are in crisis, with 27% of vehicle miles lost in the last decade (see story right).

The transport charity’s chief executive, Paul Tuohy, said: “Improving buses in a minority of places does not live up to the promise of a national bus strategy, though locally it will be very welcome. Rather than this fragmented, competitive way of funding local buses we want to see more of a focus on revenue funding to ensure every community gets the bus service it needs and deserves.

Tuohy added: “With a large number of losers from today’s announcement, it’s important communities that have missed out are not left behind, and that those local authorities are given the funding and support through the long-awaited Bus Centre of www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Excellence to overcome barriers to being successful in the future.”

Campaign for Better Transport says that much greater investment will be needed to “truly revive and transform buses across the country” and is calling on the government to: Redirect a fifth of its £27bn road building budget into a single, long-term bus funding pot; Give a greater focus on revenue funding; Give local authorities that missed out capability funding and support through the Bus Centre

of Excellence.

Tuohy said: “If Treasury were to redirect just a fifth of its £27bn road building budget, it could help save local buses from disaster.”

Urban Transport Group also called for revenue funding. The group’s chair, Laura Shoaf, said: “We now need to see this package of largely capital spending complemented by a long term plan for revenue support for bus networks which can meet the national bus strategy’s aspirations for better services everywhere.”

“If Treasury were to redirect just a fifth of its £27bn road building budget, it could help save local buses from disaster” Paul Tuohy, Campaign for Better Transport

INDICATIVE CRSTS ALLOCATIONS TEES VALLEY - £310m to fund initiatives such as transforming Darlington Station to enable more local rail journeys and providing active travel infrastructure on priority corridors.

WEST YORKSHIRE - £830m to fund schemes such as the development and delivery of a mass transit network across the region.

SOUTH YORKSHIRE - £570m to fund a range of schemes including renewal of the Sheffield Supertram network connecting Sheffield and Rotherham.

GREATER MANCHESTER - £1.07bn to fund a range of schemes such as new vehicles to extend the Metrolink network and the creation of walking and cycling corridors across the city region.

LIVERPOOL CITY REGION - £710m to fund a range of schemes including a new rail station in Liverpool’s Baltic quarter providing direct access to the city’s growing creative and digital cluster.

WEST MIDLANDS - £1.05bn to fund a range of schemes including 50km of new bus priority lanes across the city region doubling the current amount and Ultra Rapid Charging Transit stations to ensure that local journeys are safer, greener, and cleaner.

WEST OF ENGLAND - £540m to support the creation of sustainable transport corridors across Bristol and Bath to make bus travel, cycling, and walking easier and more accessible for all.

‘1 IN 4 BUS SERVICES HAVE DISAPPEARED’

Decline has rapidly accelerated since 2019 BUS POLICY

Campaign for Better Transport research has revealed that more than one in four bus services in England have been lost in the last decade, with the pandemic having a devastating effect.

The transport charity is calling for a national, government-led campaign to encourage people back on board and turn around the fortune of buses.

Campaign for Better Transport’s research shows that 27% of bus services in England (as measured by vehicle miles) have vanished in the last decade. The number of bus services (as measured by ‘live’ bus registrations) dropped from 16,913 in March 2012, to 12,067 in March 2021 - a decline of 29% across England.

The biggest drop has been as a result of the pandemic: in the eight years between 2011/12-2018/19, bus vehicle miles in England dropped by 10%, whereas in the two years between March 2019 and March 2021, they fell by almost double that (18%).

The regions with the biggest declines are the North West and the East of England, both losing 38% of services, followed by the East Midlands with a 35% loss.

Given the strong government messaging in the early part of the pandemic to avoid public transport, the charity believes that there is a segment of the public that will not return until the government overtly tells them it is safe to do so. It argues that the government campaign should be accompanied by fare incentives and offers to encourage people back on board. The charity contrasted the recent 5p cut in fuel duty in the UK with moves to cut public transport fares in countries such as New Zealand and Germany.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Go-Ahead strategy favours bus expansion New chief executive Christian Schreyer reveals ambitious new strategy but brands existing German rail contract ‘a mistake’. Andrew Garnett reports STRATEGY

Recently installed Go-Ahead chief executive Christian Schreyer aims to move on from the debacle of the Southeastern rail franchise and problematic overseas contracts with an ambitious new strategy. He is seeking to increase annual group revenues to £4bn and profits of at least £150m in the medium term.

The new strategy - The Next Billion Journeys - will focus on three strategic objectives: improving performance of the underlying business; organic and external growth; and the progressing of new opportunities.

Schreyer has tasked Go-Ahead managers with achieving these objectives via five ‘enablers’: Strengthening governance and transparency; Improving digital and data

Schreyer: Focus on improving the next billion journeys

capabilities; Consolidating zero emission capabilities; Rebuilding post-Covid confidence with passengers and clients; and Enhancing people engagement and collaboration.

The group will enhance the basics of its business by focusing on operational excellence. A

UK bus franchising a key Go-Ahead target Group eyes opportunities in North of England and Wales Go-Ahead chief executive Christian Schreyer said this week that the group is keen to target emerging opportunities offered by bus franchising.

He said that while margins are tighter in a contracted environment, this was largely influenced by the risk profile.

Schreyer pointed to Singapore’s bus franchising

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model. He described it as a “capex-free model” as the Land Transport Authority there owns both the buses and depot infrastructure. Operators are paid a fee to manage and operate services and in such a market Schreyer claimed “you can do very well on low margins”.

Meanwhile, the Go-Ahead chief executive told Passenger Transport

new operating model will be introduced for all Go-Ahead’s operating companies to deliver more transparency and to increase the focus on financial performance. This will include “drilling down on common cost drivers” across the group.

Centres of excellence will be created to allow knowledge to be shared across the group. Schreyer pointed to Go-Ahead London’s leading role in introducing zero emission buses in the capital.

He said the subsidiary would now take a lead in sharing its knowledge and experience groupwide in order to speed up the transition to zero emission.

Go-Ahead also plans to target further acquisitions within the regional UK bus market and in a call to investors and city analysts, Schreyer said opportunities

that the group would be keeping an eye on opportunities in the UK with Greater Manchester, Liverpool and “maybe a bit later in Leeds” key targets.“Wales is a clear opportunity,” he added.

Schreyer said he saw more opportunity than threat from the move to a franchised operating model. “It could be a small threat, but with the size of the markets that are opening it is a balance of risk and opportunity,” he said. “The opportunities are clearly stronger and bigger than the risks.”

had been identified in the East Midlands and North of England.

Go-Ahead will seek to replicate proven business models also for example, in franchised and contracted bus services, as it has demonstrated successfully in Ireland and Singapore. Schreyer said the group would target further opportunities for bus expansion in France, Australia and Sweden. He claimed that these business-to-government contracts were worth around £80bn each year and they would be a key expansion target.

Meanwhile, Schreyer also sees potential for expansion in the provision of business-tobusiness transport, for example, air transport ground services and rail replacement buses. He claimed the group could leverage its existing depot infrastructure to target these markets.

But Schreyer, who worked for Deutsche Bahn for 15 years, admitted the group’s push into the German rail market had been “a mistake”. “It’s a market we didn’t know and a business model that’s very different,” he said, adding that the group would not repeat that mistake in the future.

He added that the group had had a “very bad time” from its rail contract in Norway while closer to home there were performance issues at some of Go-Ahead’s smaller bus businesses that needed to be resolved.

While keen to bid for rail contracts in the UK, Schreyer was adament the group would not seek to enter the open access long-distance rail market. He also said rising inflation would provide an opportunity to grow modal share, revealing the group was fully hedged for its fuel requirements for this year and 50% next year. “Private car prices are not hedged on fuel like we are,” Schreyer added. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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“I expect HS2 Ltd to maintain its focus on delivery to the target cost”

Concerns as HS2 costs continue to increase Project is within budget, but is eating into contingency REGULATION

HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson has expressed concern at the increasing costs on the first phase of the high speed rail project between London and Birmingham.

In a statement to MPs on March 16, he said that while the project remains within budget, HS2 Ltd will continue to draw from its contingency, but it had reported £1.7bn of potential future cost pressures that are currently presenting across the programme.

This reflects an increase in potential further cost pressures of £0.4bn since Stephenson’s last update in October 2021.

“Whilst these pressures are

GOVIA SECURES GTR CONTRACT operator will earn £8.8m annual management fee CONTRACTS

Govia has secured a new three-year National Rail Contract to operate the Govia Thameslink Railway network, Britain’s largest rail contract. The new contract started on April 1 and will run until April 2025. It includes an option for it to be extended for a further three years subject to approval from the transport secretary.

GTR will earn a fixed management fee of £8.8m per annum (equivalent to a margin of 0.5% of GTR’s cost base) to deliver the contract, with an additional performance fee of up to £22.9m per annum (equivalent to an www.passengertransport.co.uk

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manageable within the target cost given the remaining contingency, I am nonetheless concerned at the rate of their increase,” he told MPs. “I expect HS2 Ltd to maintain its focus on delivery to the target cost.”

However, he revealed that these cost pressures had been offset by over £0.8bn in savings and efficiencies from across the programme, an increase of £0.5bn since October.

The savings have been made from awarding the rolling stock contract under budget, contracting a common supplier for lifts and escalators, and savings in the acquisition of land and property. These have partly offset gross cost pressures.

But should the cost pressures materialise, HS2 Ltd will continue to draw from the contingency, of

which £4.3bn remains.

Of the £1.7bn of net potential pressures over and above the contingency drawn down so far, the key pressures are: An estimate of £0.8bn (increase of £0.2bn since the last update) for potential additional Main Works Civils costs; A pressure of £0.4bn on the cost estimate for the HS2 Euston station. The move to a smaller, less complex 10-platform singlestage delivery strategy will assist in addressing the cost pressure as the updated station design is developed; A £0.2bn budget overrun for changes to Network Rail infrastructure at Euston and Old Oak Common; and A further £0.3bn of net cost pressures presenting on other parts of the programme.

additional 1.35% margin).

Subject to the achievement of performance targets set by the Department for Transport, the maximum fee receivable by GTR would therefore be £31.7m per annum (equivalent to a margin of around 1.85%). The contract also allows for individual project fees to be earned by GTR on the delivery of additional initiatives as directed by the DfT. Rail minister Wendy Morton said: “GTR will play a key role helping the Government continue delivering our Plan for Rail. With their plans for improving the punctuality, reliability and accessibility of their services through close collaboration with Network Rail, we are proud to partner with GTR to create a truly passenger focused service.”

GTR chief executive Patrick Verwer added: “I’m delighted that GTR’s long-standing experience in running the UK’s largest train network, our focus on improving the customer experience and our strong local relationships have been recognised.

“This new agreement means we can continue to build on what we have achieved to date.”

Verwer: ‘Agreement means we can build on what we have achieved to date’

IN BRIEF TRAM CRASH CHARGES The Office of Rail and Road has announced it will prosecute Transport for London, Tram Operations Limited and tram driver Alfred Dorris following a detailed and thorough investigation into the fatal Sandilands tram derailment on the London Tramlink network in November 2016. ORR’s prosecution is for breaches of health and safety law and a hearing will take place at Croydon Magistrates’ Court, with a date to be set shortly.

BANK BRANCH ON TRACK Transport for London says the Bank branch of London Underground’s Northern line will reopen as planned in mid-May. The upgrade of Bank station will see its capacity increased by 40% when work finishes later this year, with improvements still to come including step-free access to the Northern line and improved access to the DLR platforms.

There will also be more direct routes within the station and a new station entrance on Cannon Street. The branch has been closed between Kennington and Moorgate since mid-January.

CUP DATE CLASHES Manchester City and Liverpool football fans are being advised against travelling by rail to and from the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Easter Saturday while major railway improvements are taking place. There will be no direct trains between Liverpool Lime Street or Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston.

Network Rail and Avanti West Coast have urged fans to avoid alternative rail routes and to make alternative travel plans.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

No funding certainty to underpin franchising far legislated for change, unlike England and Scotland. Last week it launched a consultation on a white paper titled One Network, One Timetable, One Ticket, and subtitled “Planning Buses as a Public Service for Wales”.

In order to ensure public funding is used efficiently, various strategic objectives would have to be achieved, says the white paper. One of them is: “Multi-year sustainable funding allocations for bus services and bus infrastructure that enable long-range strategic planning and investment, optimal use of available monies and development of sustained improvement packages targeted to grow patronage.”

However, another section of the white paper contrasts the funding

models for buses and trains.

“Under the Railways Act model, the secretary of state publishes a multi-year Statement of Funds Available,” it observes.

The Welsh Government’s funding for buses comes from its annual block grant from the UK Government. The white paper explains: “Under the current devolved funding settlement, we are unable to provide the kind of long-term funding certainty such a system would ideally receive, but we will work with local government to develop an indicative funding envelope against which they can plan, to ensure we are all working towards the same objectives and planning the best bus network we are able to deliver within that budget.”

Lee Waters, deputy climate

change minister, told Passenger Transport that any part of Welsh public spending depended on the block grant. “We will always have buses. The question is, what’s the best way to organise them?”

He accepted that more public funding would be needed for buses than in the past and said that improving the bus network was one of many aspects of tackling climate change where additional funding was unavoidable.

The white paper proposes the creation of a supervisory board, to include a bus operator representative. The board will act as a guiding mind, coordinating the regional bus networks devised

by Corporate Joint Committees.

The CJCs - new regional groupings of local authorities - will coordinate the network plans of each unitary authority.

A National Centre of Excellence for Franchising, through Transport for Wales, will give all areas access to specialist resources to tender and manage franchise contracts.

“A key element of this approach is that contracting services in

“Regardless of the regulatory model, close working between all partners is crucial to improving Wales’ bus services,” said CPT Cymru in a statement. “Ensuring that operators’ expertise in running services, their strong track record for innovation and existing strong relationships with passengers are fully utilised will be vital.

“The additional costs of a franchise model would be around £61m per year with no guarantees that improvements in bus services will be delivered any more quickly than through local authorities and operators working in partnership to improve services.

“To avoid a period of uncertainty

that delays investment in improvements in services for passengers we now need to see a clear timetable and a solid financial commitment to fund the changes Welsh Government propose.”

Meanwhile, Cardiff-based bus and coach operator Adventure Travel said it believes the white paper’s proposals can work in principle, but questioned the significant funding stream required and the method by which bus operators won’t be able to react to customer needs.

“Bus franchising has been on the cards for a number of years so today’s announcement is not unexpected,” said managing director Adam Keen. “Franchising is being

discussed in various regions across the UK and indeed, some cities in England such as Manchester and Liverpool, are already quite advanced in their plans.

“Whilst there are certainly mixed feelings among various operators, Adventure Travel is supportive of the plans and we consider our company to be in a very strong position to adapt as required and therefore also in a good position to comment on the plans.”

Adventure Travel was bought

by Singapore-based transport group ComfortDelGro in 2018 with possible future franchising models in mind.

Keen pointed out sister company Metroline already successfully

The Welsh Government has confirmed plans for nationwide bus franchising but there are concerns about funding. Rhodri Clark reports REGULATION

The Welsh Government unveiled its plans for bus franchising across Wales last week, promising improved services and lower fares. However, it admitted that it is not able to offer the long-term funding certainty the new system would ideally receive.

“Recurring costs” of £57.4m have been estimated for the franchised system, along with transitional costs of £91.3m and £23.1m of capital costs. The estimates were extrapolated from Cardiff, Wrexham and Pembrokeshire as case studies representing a city, town and rural area.

The Labour government has complained for many years that the deregulated system does not serve Wales well but has not so

WHITE PAPER CONCERNS

Operators and campaign groups have their say REGULATION

Bus operators largely offered a supportive stance to the Welsh Government’s plans for buses in Wales as part of its One Network, One Timetable, One Ticket white paper.

CPT Cymru said bus operators had worked closely with the Welsh Government during the pandemic, and looked forward to “continuing this approach to deliver the shared ambition of more frequent and reliable bus services”.

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06/04/2022 16:26

“We will always have buses.

The question is, what’s the best way to organise them?”

this way allows the public sector to control the ticket revenue, paying operators a fixed fee with opportunities to include incentives to reward high quality services and reliability, and penalties for failing to meet certain service standards.

“This means that choices can be made in the public interest about

whether unprofitable routes are still worth running and how to reinvest income from profitable routes to support those socially necessary services.

“Whilst this may limit the profit operators are able to make from some routes and networks, it also ensures they can run services with a reliable income without bearing

a revenue risk in the case of patronage falling due to economic downturn or other factors. Under a franchised system, the public sector assumes that risk to enable us to deliver the best network we can with the funding available.”

The white paper promises investment in bus priority and passenger waiting facilities, and to integrate investment in the bus system with land use planning to ensure that new development is focused on areas with strong bus services. It also expects franchising to enable coordination of fare reductions and other bus improvements with “actions to reduce car reliance”, in order to drive mode shift.

The government acknowledges that the “ideal network” will take time to develop and probably require iterative improvements. The ultimate goal is a comprehensive network serving the widest feasible range of destinations, at busy times and less busy times, with coordinated timetables for bus-bus and bus-rail connections and simple area-wide fares across all public transport modes.

operates under London’s franchised system.

He continued: “We worked extremely cohesively with local authorities during the pandemic and it will be a great shame to end these useful, productive partnerships. The initial franchising plans are obviously in the early stages of development, but there are ‘holes covered in twigs’ where funding is concerned.”

Keen said running a franchise model for an authority is “an exceptionally expensive process” and he pointed to the experience in London and the recurring funding issues there in recent years.

“It is also crucial that Welsh Government - whilst wanting to take

the reins - should engage with bus operators as ultimately, we are the experts at what we do,” said Keen.

“The amount of consideration, time and data analysis that goes into something as simple as a fare change is not clearly understood by most people and thus, I urge decision-makers to involve operators in building a model for Wales which is affordable, sustainable and deliverable. If Welsh Government get this right, this can ultimately be a good news story, not just for existing bus customers but for potential new customers too.”

Also offering a word of caution on funding for franchising was Campaign for Better Transport.

Silviya Barrett, the group’s head of policy said the Welsh Government recognised the potential of buses to replace car journeys and tackle climate change, as well as their social importance.

“We welcome its vision for one network, one timetable and one ticket, which will make bus travel easy and attractive for everyone in Wales,” she said. “It is crucial that the new regulatory framework enables the government, local authorities and bus operators to work well together to deliver services that work best for passengers locally. The strategy must also be underpinned by the long-term funding commitment to make it a reality.”

Waters has accepted buses in Wales will need more public funding

www.passengertransport.co.uk

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TRAVELINE CYMRU JOINS TRANSPORT FOR WALES FAMILY Move will take customer experience to ‘next level’ INFORMATION

The Welsh Government has confirmed that PTI Cymru, the parent company of the Traveline Cymru service, has joined the Transport for Wales organisation in a deal that aims to create an integrated public transport information centre.

The move has been welcomed by both TfW and PTI Cymru, as “it provides an exciting opportunity to pool all the existing customer experience talent and resource together under one umbrella to create something incredibly special that will take the customer experience offer to the next level”.

Traveline Cymru was set up in 2000 to provide telephone access to bus travel information. Since then the service has evolved to provide multi-modal journey planning across a range of tools and platforms and created a bus data set which is used by many across the industry.

“We know that information is a key part of behavioural change and encouraging more people to use public transport,” said Jo Foxall, PTI Cymru managing director.

“Becoming a part of TfW is the next step in our evolution to ensure customers continue to be at the heart of what we do.”

Foxall: ‘Joining TfW is next step for PTI Cymru’ 8 April 2022 | 09

06/04/2022 16:26

NEWS ROUND-UP

Stagecoach finds public supports zero emission Switch to zero emission buses could stimulate patronage ZERO EMISSION

A new report published by Stagecoach suggests one million new passengers could be attracted to Britain’s bus networks through the switch to zero emission operation.

Road map to zero: the transition to Zero Emission Buses, what it means for people, and the journey to get there sets out an ambitious national vision for achieving a completely zero emission bus fleet.

It identifies the scale of the opportunity that electric buses present, showing how they can attract a new generation of bus users. Over a million current nonbus users say they would start to use services if electric buses were

KENT AXES 48 BUS ROUTES Budget cuts see threat to poor performing routes BUS CUTS

Kent County Council is undertaking a consultation over plans to axe 48 supported bus services in the county as it grapples with budget cuts.

The council currently spends about £6m a year on supported services. It claims it has worked hard to protect this funding, but the financial pressures placed on its budget mean that the council faces “an intensely challenging period ahead, where tough decisions will need to be taken”.

“To meet the financial challenge being posed by this year’s budget, KCC’s public transport team has 10 | 8 April 2022 PT262p10-11 10

introduced in their local area, as long as fares and frequency remain the same. What’s more, over nine million current passengers would expect to use the bus more often.

The report highlights the significant challenges that all UK operators need to overcome to achieve this, including: Upgrading depot infrastructure and changed working methods to accommodate the specific needs of some zero emission buses; Upskilling the workforce and attracting a new generation of people to highly skilled, green jobs in the bus industry; and Developing a long-term sustainable funding approach which reflects the increased costs of zero emission buses when compared to conventional vehicles.

Stagecoach also warns that

been asked to reduce planned spending on this funding by £2.2m from 2022-23,” said the council.

“To achieve this reduction, we would need to end 48 contracts with a total value of £3m which would affect around 55 supported bus services from summer 2022.”

The council has developed a criteria based on subsidy per passenger journey to assess the poorest performing contracts. There are also some instances where the withdrawal of a service may not have a serious impact for bus users, for example where other services are available.

“We have had to take some very tough decisions in order to ensure the services we have to provide by law have the funds they need,” said KCC cabinet member for transport David Brazier.

getting the transition wrong could have significant consequences for passengers and the sustainability of the bus network. Increasing fares by 10% to fund the transition would see more than 12 million passengers reducing their bus use.

The group has identified three core principles which will allow the industry to transition to zero emission buses. These are funding; customer experience, and partnership.

Stagecoach also makes 21 recommendations that include collaborative working to explore new funding options; industry support for new ‘green engineering apprenticeships’; and partnership working to promote the introduction of vehicles.

The full report can be downloaded at bit.ly/3740CkC

ARRIVA SECURES FASTRACK DEAL

Group secures deal to run BRT network in Kent CONTRACTS

Arriva has announced it has been awarded a new contract by Kent County Council to operate the Fastrack bus rapid transit network in the north of county. The deal also sees the Fastrack AZ service, which connects Amazon’s recently opened warehouse at Dartford with the town centre and Gravesend at key shift times, integrated into the wider Fastrack network.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the great changes that are happening around the Fastrack network,” said Michael Jennings, Arriva’s area head of commercial.

IN BRIEF GO-AHEAD LONDON GAINS Go-Ahead London has made some significant Transport for London tender gains. It sees the operator take on Route 91/N91 (Crouch End-Trafalgar Square) from Metroline; and Routes 470 (Epsom-Colliers Wood) and N97 (Hammersmith-Trafalgar Square) from RATP Dev Transit London. It has also retained Routes 80, 93, 151, 154, 163 and 164. Meanwhile, Arriva London has retained Route 149; Metroline keeps Routes 187, 297, 384 and 487; and HCT Group holds on to Route W5.

Vehicle allocations are subject to confirmation on the bulk of these contracts, although it is confirmed that Route 149 will continue to utilise New Routemaster vehicles.

WHO USES THE BUS? New research from London TravelWatch has identified the people in London that most rely on buses to get around the capital.

It shows a greater than average proportion of people on lower incomes, people of colour, women and younger people, use the bus.

Headline figures include 69% of Londoners in a household earning less than £20,000 per year use the bus at least once a week, compared with 59% of all Londoners. Women rely on the bus more than men – during the day 57% of people who use the bus are women compared to 43% of men.

BYE BYE BRIGHTON BENDIES Brighton & Hove has announced it will withdraw its fleet of former London articulated buses later this year. It is understood they will be replaced by double deckers cascaded from London. This year marks 20 years since the type was first introduced on the capital’s ‘Red Arrow’ commuter network.

www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 16:27

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06/04/2022 16:27

ENVIRONMENT

‘On track’ to meet zero emission bus pledge?

After announcing new ZEBRA grants totalling £198m for the delivery of 943 vehicles, the DfT says it is fulfilling PM’s pledge to fund 4,000 vehicles ZERO EMISSION BUSES

The government declared that it was on track to fulfil its pledge to support the delivery of 4,000 zero emission buses by 2025 after announcing the latest winners of its ZEBRA (Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas) scheme late last month.

Twelve areas in England will receive grants totalling £198.3m to support the purchase of 943 electric or hydrogen buses and their associated charging or fuelling infrastructure.

The government has previously been urged to provide a road map for delivering on its pledge, with bus manufacturers, operators and MPs warning of slow progress towards funding a total of 4,000 zero emission buses across the country - which the prime minister promised in 2020. But

ZERO EMISSION BUS REGIONAL AREAS (ZEBRA) FUNDING AWARDS Source: Department for Transport

AUTHORITY

BUSES

Norfolk County Council North Yorkshire County Council Portsmouth City Council & Hampshire County Council Blackpool Council Nottingham City Council Transport for Greater Manchester Hertfordshire County Council South Yorkshire Mayoral CA Oxfordshire County Council West Midlands CA City of York Council West Yorkshire CA 12 | 8 April 2022 PT262p12-13 12

15 39 34 115 78 170 27 27 159 124 44 111

the Department for Transport declared that the latest round of funding means the government remains on track.

The latest funding builds on almost £71m announced last year to support up to 335 new zero emission buses in five areas (PT252) and £50m for the UK’s first All Electric Bus City, Coventry, supporting up to 300 buses. Combined with the most recent announcement this amounts to around 1,785 vehicles, meaning that fewer than half of the 4,000 promised vehicles have yet to be funded.

However, the DfT statement

also mentions the 100 zero emission buses funded by previous funding schemes, the 300 zero emission buses that have been funded by Transport for London and the 600 zero emission buses that have been funded by devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This suggests that the government is including these additional 1,000 vehicles among those required to hit the 4,000 target.

Transport minister Baroness Vere said: “We recognise the scale of the challenge the world faces in reaching net zero. That’s why reducing emissions and creating

“Today’s multi-million pound investment is an enormous step towards a cleaner future” Baroness Vere

End date for non-zero emission bus sales Government launches consultation on specific date The government has launched a public consultation seeking views on setting a specific date between 2025 and 2032 for ending the sale of new non-zero emission (at the tailpipe) buses.

This would mean that, from 2032 at the very latest, the sale of all new buses, powered either in part, or totally, by an internal combustion engine would cease

to be allowed. Any new buses sold from that date would need to be fully zero emission at the tail pipe and the end of sales would apply across the whole of the UK. The Department for Transport said that such a move would bolster the market for zero emission buses, making them the default choice for operators to transition sooner.

green jobs lies at the heart of our transport agenda. Today’s multimillion pound investment is an enormous step towards a cleaner future, helping ensure transport is fit for generations to come and allowing millions of people to get around in a way that is kinder to our environment.”

The latest ZEBRA funding will have a transformational impact on the areas of the country that have benefitted. Blackpool Council, for example, will receive a new fleet of 115 electric vehicles, enabling council-owned Blackpool Transport to remove all non-zero emission buses from its fleet.

Another big winner was Oxfordshire County Council, which was awarded £32.8m.

Along with £6m from the council itself and £43.7m from bus companies Stagecoach and the Go-Ahead Group, the scheme will deliver 159 electric buses and the infrastructure to charge them in a package worth £82.5m. Bill Cotton, Oxfordshire County Council’s director for environment and place, said: “This is ... a major leap forward for transport decarbonisation and cleaner air in the county.”

Calls for evidence were also launched on ending the sale of new non-zero emission coaches and minibuse.

Representing bus and coach operatators, CPT said: “Today’s announcement is a welcome drive towards zero emission bus and coach fleets.

It is important that any eventual targets for both bus and coach are realistic and recognise the unique and different challenges operators face regarding infrastructure, funding and technological development.”

www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 16:47

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06/04/2022 16:47

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

Ticketer links bus and rail with single e-ticket First-of-a-kind innovation lets travellers buy electronic rail and PlusBus ticket with GWR and use it on First Bus services in Weston-super-Mare TICKETING

A collaboration between Ticketer and FirstGroup sister companies First Bus and Great West Railway has seen the introduction of new electronic ticketing functionality connecting bus and rail services via a single QR code. Passengers can now purchase a rail and PlusBus ticket for their complete journey with First Bus and GWR for travel around Weston-super-Mare using just one electronic ticket.

The electronic rail and PlusBus ticket can be purchased through a smartphone or from GWR either at stations or on trains. Passengers are issued with a QR code ticket that complies with Rail Delivery Group standards. Passengers

scan and validate the QR code on the Ticketer electronic ticket machines onboard all First West of England Badgerline services within Weston-super-Mare.

Previously accepted as a paper ticket flash pass, the introduction of rail and PlusBus ticket validation via a QR code brings great benefits to operators in terms of better data collection to fully understand passenger travel

“We look forward to it being available across our services in other areas” Rob Pymm, First Bus

patterns. It also makes boarding faster, easier and more efficient for both drivers and passengers.

Issuing only one e-ticket for an entire integrated train and bus journey will further eliminate the stumbling block relating to the collection of tickets at the station.

With no paper tickets involved, and with the ticket safely stored and accessible through a smartphone, passengers can travel seamlessly across bus and rail with no additional hassle.

Ticketer is the first provider to bring validation of QR codes for joint rail and PlusBus tickets to market, simplifying the on-bus boarding experience and making it much easier for passengers to travel intermodally.

Jason Mann, head of product at Ticketer, said: “Automatically scanning and verifying PlusBus QR coded tickets will introduce ease and convenience for both operators and passengers, help deliver a more efficient service, and enable smarter planning and better data collection. Any of our operators who have QR scanners on their ticket machines can take advantage of our latest innovation.”

This new seamless ticket experience between bus and rail will aim to encourage passengers to use the First Bus and GWR services combined across the initial launch areas, with a further roll-out of the new connected ticket solution to follow.

Rob Pymm, commercial director at First West of England, said: “Being able to scan the integrated rail and PlusBus ticket on our buses will benefit our customers and drivers by making boarding faster and simpler, and we look forward to it being available across our services in other areas over the coming months.”

ADL BUS JOINS 5G FESTIVAL Livestreamed music broadcast on board 5G

Bus builder Alexander Dennis provided an electric double decker for an immersive transmission of a live music performance during a bus journey across London as part of the 5G Festival.

Delivered as part of the 5G Festival showcase, selected passengers travelling across London enjoyed a live transmission from musicians in Brighton, who performed in-sync with other musicians from the O2 Blueroom at The O2 in Greenwich and at Metropolis Studios in Chiswick over 5G onto the bus.

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Alexander Dennis provided an electric double decker

www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 16:53

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06/04/2022 16:53

COMMENT

NORMAN BAKER

A nudge in the wrong direction

By helping motorists and ignoring public transport users, the chancellor continued a long tradition in his Spring Statement The highlight of the recent Spring Statement was the 5p cut in fuel duty. At least it was the highlight in the chancellor’s view. He ensured it was widely anticipated in the press in the days preceding the statement.

This tactic, incidentally, was in flagrant breach of the instructions of the Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who had torn a strip off Rishi Sunak for leaking the last budget to the press before telling the Commons. This is now something of a game: the government tells the press before parliament, the speaker loses their rag, the relevant minister promises not to do it again, and then the cycle begins afresh.

The chancellor clearly thought the cut in fuel duty was good news. Some of us beg to differ.

In the event, it pleased nobody. The ungrateful petrolheads complained it was too little, too late, and the average motorist will barely have noticed the difference. Especially as a survey afterwards confirmed what many of us had predicted, namely that a cut in fuel duty is not the same as a cut in the price at the pumps. The trumpeted 5p cut turned out to be a 2.7p cut, with the greedy oil companies pocketing the rest. Far from serving them with a windfall tax, the chancellor handed them a windfall bonanza.

Nor will the Treasury’s civil servants have been happy. With the public finances under severe strain due to Covid, the invasion of Ukraine, and, yes, Brexit, the last thing they wanted to see was a pointless but expensive give-away.

The chancellor suggested that this was a 16 | 8 April 2022 PT262p16-17 16

temporary cut for 12 months. Does anyone seriously think that he will reverse this in the run-up to the next election?

Meanwhile, what help was there in the Spring Statement for bus and rail users? A big fat zero. Contrast that with Germany, where the government, responding to cost of living pressures, has just introduced a flat fare public transport ticket for a period of 90 days.

For just nine euros a month, or about £7.50, Germans will be able to use all forms of public transport. That’s less than £2 a week.

In New Zealand, public transport fares have been halved from April 1, also for three months. In Luxembourg, all public transport has been free since February 2020. And across the world, there are at least 98 cities where public transport is free.

Depressingly, in a recent survey of 36 European cities, the three from the UK came 34th, 35th, and 36th in terms of public transport affordability - Birmingham, Manchester and London respectively. London, of course, has just seen an above inflation increase in fares forced upon the mayor as part of the latest short-term deal with central government.

“While car drivers get a cut in fuel duty, public transport users are at best ignored”

Residents in the three English cities spend between 8 and 10% of their household budget on travel costs. The equivalent figure in Oslo is just 2%.

So while car drivers get a cut in fuel duty, public transport users are at best ignored, at worst punished. I suppose to be fair to the government, I should record that this is not a new development. Over the last 30 or more years, the cost of travelling by bus and rail has risen sharply ahead of inflation, while the cost of motoring has lagged behind, and therefore become by comparison a more attractive financial option for travellers.

Between 1987 and 2020, bus fares rose by 416%, rail fares by 332%, but motoring by just 152%. Over the last 10 years, bus fares have risen by close to an eye-watering 60%, around twice the increase for rail or car. The bus is the mode of transport disproportionately used by those on low incomes. So much for levelling up.

There is a mindset problem here that needs to be shifted. It seems to have become accepted wisdom in this country that we should in the interests of efficiency be seeking to reduce as far as possible public subsidy of bus and rail. Subsidy. Or is it actually investment? Investment in a public good that underpins the economy and helps bind society.

Other countries that “subsidise” their public transport more are not inefficient.

They have taken a calculated decision that it is good policy with wider societal benefits to offer cheap and affordable public transport.

In this country, too many politicians want to ring-fence public transport in their minds, and see only the subsidy figures, not the wider benefits that can accrue.

Why, they say, should non-users subsidise others to use the bus and train? Andy Bagnall, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, has a neat riposte to this: one out of ten use rail, but ten out of ten benefit. The same logic can be applied to the bus, the tube, the tram.

Creating a modal shift to private road transport may thus have happened to a degree by default: those who see a twodimensional equation where public transport requires public money, whereas private road transport generates an income stream for the government.

Yet such a modal shift is not in the interests of the country. It increases carbon emissions, worsens air quality, leads to more congestion, www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 15:34

“The nudge from the government has been to push people to use a car” and disadvantages the third of the population that have no access to a car.

The coalition government in which I served adopted nudge theory, a philosophy much loved by former MP Oliver Letwin. This held that public behaviour could be moved in ways beneficial to society, and indeed to the individual, by sometimes subtle signals. Thus the desired outcome could be achieved without the need to resort to bans or regulations.

The most potent nudge is the use of price.

Either because money is tight or through a desire to get good value for money, people unquestionably respond to price signals. Given the trend over the last 30 or more years, it is hardly surprising that there has been a growth in car ownership and car usage.

The surprise, if there is one, is that rail usage also rose markedly over that period. The same, alas, cannot be said for the bus, which has been in slow decline for decades.

But the nudge from the government has been to push people to use a car, and abandon the bus and train.

You could understand if the government had a policy objective of securing modal shift to the car. That would of course be the wrong policy for the reasons given, but at least the price signals sent by the chancellor would be consistent with such a policy.

The irony is that official government policy is almost the opposite of that. We actually have a set of ambitious, even radical policies.

These include: A National Bus Strategy for England promising cheaper fares, universal contactless payments, more bus priority on our roads, and investment in zero emission buses.

An unparalleled multi-billion rail investment programme, and a far-reaching white paper promising to put the passenger, sorry customer, centre stage.

A commitment to achieve net zero by 2050.

It is ultimately the job of the prime minister to deal with conflicting signals coming out of different departments and rationalise these into a common direction. This prime minister is lamentably failing to do this, so departments are allowed to plough their own furrow, the Department for Transport pushing for growth in public transport while the Treasury in particular pulls the rug from under them through the price signals it sends.

But if the price is not right, there must be a www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Chancellor Rishi Sunak was feeling so generous towards motorists that he even had himself photographed filling up the Kia car of a Sainsbury’s employee

danger of a future where roads are filled with zero emission buses, and tracks carry spanking new trains, but all with barely any passengers on board.

The next looming price challenge comes from the rate of inflation, which is roaring away and predicted to get as high as 10% by the summer. But it is the inflation rate at that point which is used to determine the increase in rail fares that take effect the following January. Worse, the government insists on using the RPI index, which generally will deliver a higher increase than the more common and appropriate CPI measure.

It goes without saying that an increase of 10% in rail fares, following this year’s 3.8%, would be disastrous for the railway, but also for society in general. If the government is serious about promoting public transport, serious about tackling climate change, serious about levelling up, it should commit itself now to ending the use of this formula.

Meanwhile, official figures published by the DfT reveal that bus miles between 2012 and 2019 dropped by 10%. But between 2019 and 2021, they fell by a further 18%. This is the bus in freefall.

At the same time, rail passenger numbers remain stubbornly below pre-Covid levels, in contrast to road traffic volumes which are roughly back to where they were.

Does the government think the answer to this is to ratchet up bus and train fares further while cutting the costs of motoring?

Presumably not. But if not, what are they going to do about it? How will they stop the price juggernaut?

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.

8 April 2022 | 17

06/04/2022 15:34

COMMENT

ALEX WARNER

Workplace Reform - can we really do it?

The railway is talking about Workplace Reform, the post-Covid world demands it. But what will it look like and will it happen?

‘Workplace Reform’ are the two words that are on the lips of every rail industry bigwig right now. Indeed, the ability to solve this conundrum holds the key in many respects to the successful early stages of Great British Railways when that transpires.

‘Workplace Reform’ feels a bit like that Elysian dream of Crystal Palace beating Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final in a fortnight, then overcoming Manchester City or Liverpool in the final to secure our first ever major silverware in 116 years history as a football club. It’s actually within tantalising reach of happening, but somehow you just feel we could remain as disappointed as we always have done. Those over 50, like me, sense it won’t happen in our lifetimes. But you never know and as the old adage goes… ‘it’s the hope that kills you’.

For those of you not up on the lingo, Workplace Reform (depending on your interpretation) is the work stream that all manner of railway top dogs are involved in currently trying to crack - in effect, ‘how do we radically re-shape the way in which the railway is operated from a staffing perspective, so it is sustainable going forward?’. Societal changes that were influencing demand for rail travel and were shaping up prior to Covid have only been expedited during and since the pandemic. We knew all along that the cost model of the sector needed addressing and this is now on the agenda. The Williams Shapps Review references this.

If we are to assume that James McArthur 18 | 8 April 2022 PT262p18-19 18

(or whoever Patrick Viera chooses to wear the captain’s armband) lifts the FA Cup for Crystal Palace on May 14 and the other seismic event of Workplace Reform actually occurs, then what might it look like? There’s already a head of steam from most of the TOCs to do some housekeeping, and in my ‘day job’ running Tracsis’ Transport Consultancy, we’re in demand in terms of scrutinising rosters, diagrams and processes at many TOCs to ensure that they are as slick and efficient as possible. We’re also into the fine detail of working out how timetables can be better developed to run the railway cost effectively and aligned to current and future customer (and freight) demand.

The railway needs the right people in the right place at the right time

At the moment, the approach has tended to be tweaking and small steps, though there is a gathering pace around more radical change in terms of staffing models and timetabling.

Having been ram-packed on South Western Railway trains to and from Waterloo in the sunshine on Saturday, March 26, then alone on a deserted commute in the days that followed, there surely must be a case for a revolutionising of the timetable that goes as far as eradicating the Monday-Friday morning and evening peak periods. So much cost is imported into these, particularly in terms of rolling stock and drivers hanging around in sidings between the Coast and Waterloo through the bulk of the day, just to service one or, at most, two trains into and out of London. For South Western, read Southern, South Eastern and all of the commuter TOCs, particularly c2c, which is almost entirely a peak-centric railway.

The on-train service provision is certainly part of the ‘Workplace Reform’ activity. The amount of crew required on Inter City TOCs to fulfil an at-seat complimentary First Class meal proposition is probably disproportionate to the overall customer expectation, need and indeed desire for that service. As impressive as the proposition can be, it’s still modest fare for the intensity and scale of resource invested to ensure its fulfilment. I suspect a First Class customer may indeed be just as happy for a voucher with their ticket to use to buy something at the station to take on the train (thereby helping also breathe life into some of the ailing outlets that have suffered post-Covid but whose presence is integral and important to the overall end-to-end journey experience).

Solidarity among the operators is key in any proposition shift that might hinder or enhance the ability to achieve Workplace Reform. It’s no good, for instance, CrossCountry reducing its on-board product if LNER expands it further, whether with good intentions. A national, unified approach is essential.

So too, retailing and revenue protection need to be aligned. Currently, different TOCs are at various stages and iterations in terms of their policy on pursuing changes to Schedule 17 - in essence, ticket office opening hours.

The trendy philosophy of closing ticket offices with a vision that bored staff would no longer be waiting all afternoon for nonexistent customers to come to their window and would instead become emancipated www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 15:53

“We really need to be making the breakthrough and now’s a good a time as ever. Let’s hold our nerve and go for it, once and for all” ambassadors, pro-actively hunting out and delighting customers, was, just like Palace winning the cup, a pipe dream. Some TOCs are still optimistically pursuing this, others still view staffing ticket offices to their schedule as sacrosanct, whilst many are in a middle ground - midway through deciding what to do or in the throes of painful negotiations with trade unions and other stakeholders.

Meanwhile, ticket machines, which are the ‘mitigation’ of closing ticket offices, are still a mish mash across the network. I have finally mastered the ones on South Western Railway yet I was bamboozled by a different set-up at Preston last week and then at Leeds.

For a seasoned traveller, such as I, it’s painful - heaven knows what it’s like for an irregular customer. How did we ever get to a position of so many ticket machines that are so aesthetically different even in terms of them being easily identifiable, let alone designed and functioning with any consistency?

Retail fulfilment extends to the use of e-tickets, with many ticket gates still not having workable barcode readers and some inadvertently charging customers erroneously if they brush past with their contactless card in their wallets! Then there is the frustrating situation that I encountered recently when a client purchased me a ticket for a business trip and forwarded me the reference, but for security reasons I was unable to collect the ticket because I did not have to hand the credit card it was purchased on. Not even the chap in the ticket office was able to assist!

As it was, I was so frustrated and confident that revenue protection would not be robust that I travelled anyway and on the one and only time in the entire journey that my ticket was checked (all the gates were wide open!), thankfully the conductor used common sense and was satisfied with me showing him the email and booking reference.

However, revenue protection is a key element of ‘Workplace Reform’ as we cannot have a situation whereby one TOC will deliberately ‘down tools’ and have a policy of gates being unstaffed for most of the time or www.passengertransport.co.uk

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only checking tickets on ‘key flows’ while there is much more vigilance across other parts of the UK. Similarly, it’s letting the team down for one operator not to have a revenue protection strategy (trust me, some don’t even have this!).

It’s also poor form for one TOC not to have re-mobilised revenue protection officers (RPOs) post-Covid or to have diluted their role to barrier duties, whilst another ensures their RPOs are following an intelligence-led approach to deployment, are trained in all manner of byelaw enforcement, supported by a covert undercover team and prosecute offenders, rather than let them off with an excess or penalty fare or slap on the wrists.

The ability to have a national model with, at most, variance by profile of service (e.g. short distance, inter-urban, inter city etc) is critical in driving genuine and lasting change to the employment model. Not only does this robustness make it easier and fairer to enact in terms of engagement with the necessary stakeholders, most notably the trade unions, but it takes the emphasis off the customer having to navigate their way through such a piecemeal and inconsistent experience.

Why should I have to change my thought process with each type of ticket machine I seek out and have to use? Why is the onus on me to understand whether I need to eat before getting on the train because I don’t know whether there’s going to be any nosh on-board? Why should I stress over whether my ticket will work the gates, just because the railway was dumb enough to levolve over time on an unmanaged operator by operator basis?

Workplace Reform also demands equilibrium in terms of approach to management and support structures. One of the benefits of the Department for Transport effectively funding all the operators currently is that there is transparency and scrutiny around the distribution and sign-off of costs. It’s a long way from the opaqueness in which large bid teams and fancy-Dans with grandiose group-based job titles somehow found their way onto the TOC bottom-line.

It’s really important, though, that some kind

CORRECTION My previous column (PT261) inaccurately stated that Stephen Nee appeared in the infamous zoom meeting video in which 800 P&O Ferries staff were informed they had lost their jobs. He did not. In fact, the video was delivered

by Andy Goode. I am happy to clarify this and would like to apologise to Stephen for this error.

of defined organisation structure exists across each TOC, mindful, of course, not to create too many constraining parameters that don’t reflect geographical nuances. Accordingly a uniform approach by the DfT or contracting authority to managing and measuring the contracts with operators, which has been, in the main, achieved with considerable success, is essential. However, that there is still a lingering sense of ‘haves and have nots’ across the industry and slight inconsistency in terms of being able to hold them to account, suggests perfection has not yet been achieved, but that’s an article for another day.

Having the fortitude and expertise to pull all this off is not going to be easy. In some respects, the proliferation of different terms and conditions for staff across the industry reflects the variable success of different leaders over time. Those who have shied away from not getting Sunday inside the working week (that age-old, perennial barrier) shouldn’t be belittled but it’s fair to say that there are regions or collections of depots that have more sustainable models and less local practices as a result of them benefitting from the best, most determined HR directors, regional managers and industrial relations experts. Going forward, this almost random, by chance, approach should be eradicated with a national template.

Like Crystal Palace, the rail industry is potentially on the cusp of game-changing success. The problem is like my favourite football team, we’ve been living off ‘potential’ for too long. We really need to be making the breakthrough and now’s as good a time as ever. Let’s hold our nerve and go for it, once and for all.

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

8 April 2022 | 19

06/04/2022 15:53

COMMENT

JOHN NELSON

Yorkshire has strong claim to host GBR

In need of levelling-up? Well connected by rail? An existing hub of rail-related activities to build on? Yorkshire ticks all of these boxes The competition for which town or city gets the headquarters of Great British Railways is under way. Bids have been submitted and shortlisting will be completed in May. The competition is intense and the benefits for the successful candidate will be considerable in terms of the numbers and the quality of jobs that will accompany the entity chosen by government to lead the commercial, operational and strategic development of the country’s railways.

The government’s decision to locate the new entity out of London makes sense from many points of view, not least as a key element in its ‘levelling up’ agenda. It offers the possibility of establishing, arguably for the first time, a centre of professional excellence for the rail sector. By creating a potentially critical mass of expertise a ‘regionally’ located HQ could unleash forces way beyond the purely strategic. Such a location could become a dynamo for innovation - technological as well as commercial - as the new body interacts not just with well established operational, engineering and infrastructural hubs in the rail industry; but actively promotes new collaborations across a much wider field. Links with universities, colleges and schools will be vitally important as will regional and inter-regional partnerships across the economy as a whole - whether to explore leading edge innovation in customer service or to accelerate the technological changes that will make Britain’s railways greener, more productive, more cost-effective, 20 | 8 April 2022 PT262p20-21 20

and generally much more advanced. With the centre of gravity moving eastwards in the globe the creation of GBR can help make this country world-leading once again, creating valuable export opportunities for British companies.

Because the potential prize for UK plc is so great the choice of location cannot just be seen as a beauty contest at the end of which Grant Shapps simply lays a garland round the neck of the lucky winner. The criteria for success need to be carefully identified with an emphasis not just on location but on the extent to which the desired dynamics can be released.

Furthermore, time is not on our side. There is a need to get GBR up and running quickly and for the benefits to be achieved from the start.

Our railway has been languishing in the wake

York is well connected with the rest of the country by rail

of Covid and the uncertainty surrounding the organisational shape of the industry has not helped either. The cost of the railways to the Treasury is also a huge problem at a time when there are so many demands on the public purse and GBR must offer compatible solutions.

Because of this urgency it is clear that the sector does not have time to navel gaze. GBR needs to hit the ground running.

I will return to this theme but divert for a moment to consider the ‘levelling-up’ element of the competition. Looking at current regional disparities in economic performance is the best starting point (regional GDP amongst other indicators). The regions that stand out as in particular need of a helping hand are the North East, Yorkshire & The Humber, and parts of the North West (Central Lancashire rather than Manchester), but certainly not Cheshire which is among the more prosperous parts of the country. In terms of regeneration, the government’s previously announced decisions on HS2 will clearly benefit the Midlands and North West somewhat more than other parts of the north of England. The relative economic prospects that will arise east and west of the Pennines and in the Midlands from HS2 unquestionably confer least favour on the Eastern side. Politically it would be a hard sell east of the Pennines if the GBR decision also went west, as it were. How much more ironic would it be if part of a decision to locate it westward rested on the connectivity provided by HS2! I wouldn’t like to be the politician who had to justify that at a general election hustings in Yorkshire or Teesside.

With respect to other regions, from a narrow political standpoint a location east of the Pennines looks close to being a “no-brainer”.

Yet the attributes of the specific location are also vital in terms of the value added to the rail sector and the wider economy. The selected location must be accessible to most of the country and it would be desirable too for there already to be foundations in the rail industry on which to build. I think this is important because it is probably the one single element that would enable the wider collaborative benefits of a regionally located HQ to be generated quickly. Furthermore, to locate it elsewhere could arguably put at risk existing rail employment with firms gravitating towards the Great British Railways headquarters, damaging rather than boosting local www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 17:25

“It offers the possibility of establishing, arguably for the first time, a centre of professional excellence for the rail sector” economies where rail already has a presence.

Yorkshire and the North East can claim to have been the cradle of industrial development in Britain and of the railways in particular.

As a result there is a long, continuous and successful history of railways at the heart of the economies of many of the region’s towns and cities. The most prominent with a track record of continuous development into the modern era are the city of York and the South Yorkshire town of Doncaster. Both have survived shocks to the system, not just to their rail sectors but to their wider economic base too.

Doncaster, once the centre of a thriving coal mining industry, and York, no longer the world leading confectionary manufacturer and exporter that it once was, have suffered skilled job losses to be replaced by lower paid, more vulnerable employment. Superficially Doncaster looks to have suffered more with

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York giving the outward impression of a relatively well-to-do place; but appearances are deceptive. Although York’s attractions have made it a consistently popular tourist resort, its buzz hides the reality that job dependency is now based on other people’s disposable income. As a consequence wages and salaries are at the bottom end and with disposable income in the wider economy being squeezed for the foreseeable future the prospects for people employed in the sector do not look promising.

Amongst candidate cities east of the Pennines York is plainly the best connected by rail with the rest of the country whilst Doncaster is probably better connected by motorway. Darlington is less well connected than both and what remains of rail related activity as a base on which to build there is very tenuous in comparison. All are within easy

reach of each other, with York sitting half an hour from each. Wakefield’s rail connectivity is north-south with poor links to the North West in particular and although, like Doncaster, the area suffered initially from the collapse of coal mining, it is very much within the employment radius of the thriving city of Leeds. In fact many former coal mining villages that surround Wakefield are now rapidly growing commuter suburbs with an increasingly prosperous, middle class ambience. It is an area “on the up”.

So the race is on. When the shortlist is announced I will take a more in-depth look at the runners which, for political purposes if no other, will no doubt include runners and riders from other regions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Nelson held a number of senior positions with British Rail, including chief executive of Network South East. After leaving British Rail in 1997 to set up his own businesses, he founded open access operator Hull Trains and consultancy First Class Partnerships.

8 April 2022 | 21

06/04/2022 17:25

COMMENT

NICK RICHARDSON

Delivering bus infrastructure

England’s national bus strategy called for wholesale improvements to bus priority measures but it’s not always that simple to deliver It’s been a year since the national bus strategy for England - Bus Back Better - was published by the Department for Transport and Number 10. Its contents make a lot of sense but as with most government guidance or requirements, actually delivering improvements on the ground requires determination and resources.

In some respects, creation of a Bus Service Improvement Plan for each Local Transport Authority area hinted at what needed to happen next, with a very tight timescale to produce and publish an agreed plan.

There are lots of reasons why bus priority measures are not in place already; if it was easy, they would be there. Thinking about it systematically helps to understand why some measures never see the light of day. A couple of examples help, the first being the removal of on-street parking bays to enable a bus lane to be created. This is what the strategy requires and there are numerous examples where this would help buses.

Delivering against policy The first step is to establish whether or not a proposal conforms with policy, except in many cases the policy seems to be irrelevant. While every highway authority will have documents explaining commitment to bus services and improving the environment, many of them can’t bring themselves to actually do anything about it because they might upset the locals.

In fact, measures that support car use are widely adopted because that is the path of 22 | 8 April 2022 PT262p22-23 22

least resistance. Even the most robust business case to favour bus priority may face a barrage of obstacles, largely political. Elected members really don’t understand that promoting bus use is a good thing and promoting car use is not, largely because the electorate may not be loyal to them if they do something for the annoying minority who use buses. Interestingly, the governance arrangements promoted by the national bus strategy may substitute for political approval, conveniently bypassing the democratic process of decision-making and It’s been a year since Bus Back Better was published

scrutiny. Some Enhanced Partnerships talk of the right of veto by the highway authority in which case politics could veto progress.

Having gained political approval, the proposal has to be subject to a feasibility study i.e. its implications need to be thought through. Note that feasibility studies are not progressed unless there is some hope of delivering the scheme because there is no budget. This is why very few infrastructure schemes are ‘shovel-ready’. However, at some point in the initial design stages, consultation at some level is required by most authorities both to draw out any problems and to involve the people most affected. Some authorities have an approval process to consult as well as for the scheme itself so the timing is important. Consultation is not a referendum but it can help politicians decide what to do and in some cases prompts improvements to the design; for other cases, public hysteria can be worked up so that the scheme is not pursued.

If a scheme survives this far, then there is the detailed design stage, possibly with another round of consultation, more approvals and an agreed scheme. Funding needs to be lined up before the procurement process to identify a contractor kicks in. For removal of parking spaces, a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) has to be revoked, a process that has a life of its own involving advertising the proposal and dealing with any objections. A new bus lane needs a new TRO which may or may not be controversial and if opposition is evident, then a public inquiry can be called.

Taking time You may well have gained the impression that the various approvals, design and consultations cannot be done in a hurry. Many authorities had their fingers burned during the Covid-19 pandemic where the rules were eased to create temporary measures for people walking and cycling. Some were not well conceived but many that were faced a barrage of opposition because space for other road users was constrained. In some places this adversely affected buses but in many places it didn’t and instead reinforced the messages of the relevant authority’s policies. In reality, many people support bus priority. Also to be borne in mind is the continuing slashing of highway and transport budgets which have necessitated www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 17:18

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

redundancies, often leaving very limited resource to do anything, while experience is hard to come by. Something as simple as removing parking spaces can take a very long time, certainly longer than the strategy suggests and almost certainly not achievable within the financial year in which it was put forward.

A second example is incorporating bus priority at a traffic signal junction for which there are design options to be considered, feasibility studies, modelling, surveys, consultation and planning. Creating an advanced stop line for buses so that they can enter the junction before other vehicles would work well in many instances. Many bus lanes stop short of junctions to enable turning movements i.e. they give priority to cars.

Extending the bus lane and giving priority is very different.

Considerations here are likely to include the width of the carriageway (additional signal posts need more space), the extent of the highway boundary (not always obvious and may involve land or property acquisition) and reassessing the effects for buses, other traffic and pedestrians (which affects how the signals work and the queues that may result). Cue surveys of traffic and people movement, data on buried utilities, ducting arrangements for cabling to signal poles and vehicle detectors, temporary traffic control and resurfacing.

Added complications might include archaeology and air quality. Even where there is agreement to promote a scheme, it is a slow process. There are ways of circumventing procedures in exceptional circumstances such as seeking the Cabinet member’s approval instead of waiting for a committee to convene, but this is not then subject to the rigorous value for money challenges that all public spending has to abide by.

Finding the funding Balancing scheme delivery with funding availability is always a juggling act. This is particularly the case when funding is available for a limited time only has such as when government awards are made following a round of bidding, noting once more that authorities may not have the resources to bid never mind deliver. There is also the fact that construction cost inflation means that scheme costs are often much greater than the original estimates. Government’s established www.passengertransport.co.uk

PT262p22-23 23

The Covid-19 pandemic saw rules eased to create temporary measures for people walking and cycling

“If the aspirations of the national bus strategy are to be met, then a lot needs to be done” view of optimism bias to account for unknown cost increases means that what starts as a reasonable cost estimate becomes a much bigger number without the scheme changing at all. Spending approval may line up with scheme approval but it often doesn’t work that way.

The consequences of all this are that even superficially simple schemes do not happen instantly and that some process corners may need to be cut. Then there is the risk of challenge to the procedures which may end up at a Judicial Review, another lengthy and costly process. Everyone would like to see less red tape but a lot of bureaucracy is instigated by government and local authorities to uphold the principles of democracy and value for money. Eroding this would be at best unfortunate and at worst politically destabilising. Understanding how bus

infrastructure is achieved helps to dispel myths that authorities are slow and obstructive, that the planning process is a mess and that incompetence is rife. If the aspirations of the national bus strategy are to be met, then a lot needs to be done. Funding that is promised should be available in full, clear guidance should explain how measures can or cannot be processed and above all, there should be wider understanding of the benefits of making improvements for buses.

There will not be a politician anywhere who does not support cleaner air, revitalising urban centres, reducing traffic, promoting social equity or providing better access to jobs and training but they need to be clear about how this can be achieved by bus services, not by making better provision for car users.

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.

8 April 2022 | 23

06/04/2022 17:18

COMMENT

WANT TO KNOW MORE? Visit Portland’s fuel forum page: portland-analytics.co.uk/fuel-forum

ENERGY MARKET REPORT PORTLAND FUEL ANALYTICS - APRIL 2022

Pivoting away from Russian oil and gas

Russian gas is still flowing into Europe and European money is still flowing back to Russia. It won’t be easy to end this co-dependence As the shocking events in Ukraine continue to unfold, governments around the world are in an increasing state of panic when it comes James Spencer to the supply of commodities Portland from Russia. This of course goes beyond energy, with fertiliser prices surging to record highs, alongside the likes of wheat - where Russian and Ukrainian combined production accounts for around 35% of global exports. But it is in oil and gas that the impacts of sanctions are, and will be, mostly keenly felt.

Incredible as it sounds, such is Europe’s total lack of energy independence that gas is still flowing from Russia into Europe, even as the war rages on. Even more surprising is that most of it is flowing via Ukrainian pipelines!

Nonetheless, there is now a very clear objective amongst European states to reduce Russian gas flows wherever possible. This means that no new Russian supply contracts will be signed in the near future and that automatically means that by the end of this year, Europe will have a 10% shortage of gas (this equates to the amount of Russian gas that comes up for contract renewal in 2022).

The proposed solution is to rapidly increase Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) imports by ship.

The beauty of LNG is that being seaborne, it can literally travel to any port in the world, whereas pipeline gas can only travel where the pipeline takes it. But there are several problems associated with LNG and this will make it 24 | 8 April 2022 PT262p24-25 24

difficult to successfully ‘plug’ the Russian gas ‘gap’. Firstly, European customers will be forced to muscle in on the existing LNG market, which is mainly flowing to energy hungry Asian countries. Secondly, because LNG travels as a liquid, it must be regasified to enter the grid networks of Europe. Presently, Europe has 29 gasification plants (three in the UK), but their capacity of 225bcm (billion cubic metres) per annum only equates to around 40% of Europe’s gas demand. A final bottleneck comes in the form of the world’s LNG tanker fleet.

Quite simply, there aren’t enough of these huge and complex vessels to meet the expected (and rapid) uptick in demand.

None of the above are going to do anything to keep a lid on escalating gas prices, but there still might be one factor in the world’s favour and that is China’s relationship with Russia. It now seems highly likely that China will be buying huge swathes of Russia’s gas going forward, as they (along with India?) will be the only major economy ignoring sanctions. Interestingly, this will remove Chinese volume from the global LNG marketplace (thus reducing “competitive” demand), whilst simultaneously handing China almost unbelievable power over Russia. It is indeed ironic that as Putin is desperately

“The energy landscape is changing before our very eyes”

trying to remold Ukraine as a vassal state of the Kremlin, the same thing - economically speaking - is about to happen to his beloved Russia. As the “only game in town”, Chinese buyers will expect enormous discounts on oil and gas (versus global benchmarks) and will almost certainly demand that product is priced and paid for in Renminbi (rather than $ USD).

This playbook will almost certainly be repeated in the oil world. Only the UK has been in a position within Europe to sanction Russian oil, as only 6% of our crude consumption emanates from Russia.

Mainland Europe on the other hand is in a very different and difficult position, with several major economies relying on Russian crude for more than 35% of their needs. This supply can’t simply be switched off, but as with gas, European buyers will now look to extricate themselves from Russian contracts.

Consequently, we will see a huge upending of trade flows as Russia pumps as much Urals crude eastwards (via the ESPO line = Eastern Siberian Pacific Oil), whilst European refiners will race to get their hands on crudes of similar specification to Russian product (eg, Norwegian Johan Svedrup, Nigerian Forcados, Libyan El Sider). The other option available will be to lean heavily on Saudi Arabia and get them to increase their production. This may help suppress prices, but in itself will only be a partial solution to the issue of European supply resilience. This is because Saudi crude is extremely heavy and viscous and does not make a happy bedfellow for European refineries that are configured to process the less dense crudes on the market.

There is rarely much certainty in oil and energy markets and at this juncture there is less than ever. Clearly there are huge questions around supply sufficiency outside of Russia, but at the same time, excessive high prices could soon create demand destruction as people drive less, reduce the temperature in their homes or decide not to go on holiday this summer after all. Such outcomes would definitely take the heat out of rising prices, as would extensive Covid lockdowns in China - the spectre of which still hangs over that particular super-power. The energy landscape is changing before our very eyes, but for those Ukrainians hiding in basements or being bombed in their apartment blocks, it’s hardly a pressing issue. www.passengertransport.co.uk

06/04/2022 15:44

“The West Coast Partnership is man-marked and micromanaged by no less than 29 officials”

GREAT MINSTER GRUMBLES

Micro-management on an epic scale?

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

Statistics recently published by this department show that on Friday, March 18, rail patronage hit 80% of pre-pandemic levels, hinting at encouraging signs of rail patronage recovering. Daily patronage levels did subsequently drop back to around 70% of pre-pandemic levels. Of course, these headline figures don’t reflect the fact that patronage levels differ significantly between train operators, and leisure travel is apparently recovering more strongly than commuter travel. In discussion with one industry expert I was intrigued to hear that LNER, the state-owned operator on the East Coast Main Line, has seen patronage recover to 90% of pre-pandemic levels, while its “sister” intercity operation (one might say “rival”) on the West Coast Main Line - the private sector West Coast Partnership run by FirstGroup and Trenitalia - is only operating at 60% of prepandemic levels.

Ironic, don’t you think that a public sector train operator is significantly out-performing relative to its private sector opposite number, and by some distance? And I’m told that the on-board customer experience on LNER is significantly better than West Coast Partnership’s offering. For all the claims that it was private sector innovation and entrepreneurial flair that led to the huge increase in rail patronage after privatisation, it seems that it is the public sector that is today outperforming the private sector!

My industry contact offered me an www.passengertransport.co.uk

PT262p24-25 25

explanation. He told me that LNER is pretty much left to get on and run its operation with minimal oversight from this department.

Yet the West Coast Partnership is manmarked and micromanaged by no less than 29 officials. Twenty-nine! I was assured this is no exaggeration. It seems that the West Coast Partnership can’t breathe or go to the toilet without our permission, and doubtless the same is the case with the other train operators.

I knew that we were micro-managing the train operators as we desperately seek to reduce the costs of the railways, but having 29 officials overseeing a train operator is taking micromanagement to a new level altogether. I assume - indeed, I hope - this team of 29 is overseeing a number of operators, if not all of them, but

COMMENT

you have to wonder what on earth they can be doing! And I’m told that everything that a train operator has to clear with this department has in turn to be cleared by the Treasury.

It’s surely no wonder that the West Coast Partnership is struggling to grow back patronage if it has to get clearance from this department for almost literally everything it does, or wants to do. We seem to be stifling the operators and preventing them from running their own businesses. If this micro-management is getting in the way of operators growing back patronage then it seems to be having the opposite effect of what it should be trying to achieve.

There’s no denying that there is an urgent need to reduce the cost of the railways, but I’m struggling to see how this scale of micromanagement is the right way to do it. Surely we should allow the train operators to come up with their own individual plans to achieve cost reductions and allow them to get on with it, rather than overseeing every single little thing that the operators want to do and requiring them to get our permission, and in turn the permission of the Treasury, to do so. It doesn’t strike me as a very efficient way to run a railway.

The other thing that’s puzzling me is a growing comment in the technical press and elsewhere that some of the journey time reductions claimed by the Integrated Rail Plan are undeliverable. Apparently to achieve the journey time reductions to Leeds on the East Coast Main Line that the IRP claims requires running speeds of 140mph - but apparently the East Coast Main line can’t accommodate 140mph running. Perhaps there is a plan to upgrade the line so faster train speeds can be achieved, but I haven’t spotted that in the IRP. I need to make some enquiries around all of this as if some of the claims made in the IRP are undeliverable, as the railway press is saying, then we could be heading for trouble.

Of course, the Transport Select Committee is holding an inquiry into the IRP and it might well unearth whether these claims are accurate or not - one would certainly like to think it would. But if the railway press is right, one has to wonder how on earth we put together a rail plan which in certain instances is not deliverable - not least because we must have had considerable technical expertise at hand in putting the plan together. All very strange. I must make some enquiries!

8 April 2022 | 25

06/04/2022 15:44

CAREERS

Go-Ahead strategy sees changes at the top Executive committee changes as group also plots new initiatives Go-Ahead Group has announced changes to its senior management team following the announcement of chief executive Christian Schreyer’s new corporate strategy.

Louis Rambaud joined the group earlier this year as strategy and transformation director.

He was formerly deputy chief executive of the Western Europe and Mediterranean region with French transport group Transdev.

Meanwhile, Patrick Verwer has been named as managing director of UK rail operations

alongside his role as chief executive of Govia Thameslink Railway.

Martin Dean, formerly managing director - business development, takes on the new position of managing director - UK regional bus. John Trayner retains his role as managing director of Go-Ahead

Louis Rambaud

London but in addition also takes on oversight of the Singapore and Ireland bus operations.

Completing the line-up are Scott Maynard as HR director and Sarah Mussenger, who was recently named as the new group chief financial officer (PT261).

Meanwhile, the managing directors of Go-Ahead Nordic and Go-Ahead Germany will report directly to Schreyer.

The group has also announced that initiatives will be undertaken to improve diversity and inclusion within the group, to strengthen staff retention and to repurpose group-wide forums at which operating companies exchange expertise and intelligence.

MOBILITY HAS GOT TALENT

Search launched to find Talent in Mobility winners AWARDS

The hunt is on to find the winners of the European Talent in Mobility Awards 2022, which will be revealed at the European Mobility Expo in Paris on June 9, 2022.

The awards honour those working to nurture public transport and sustainable mobility across the continent. They aim to highlight individuals who, at various stages of their career, deserve recognition from the profession as a whole.

The categories are Best Young Talent; Best Project Manager; Best Manager; Special Career Service Award; and Internet Users’ Award.

More details about the awards and details about how to enter can be found at the European Mobility Expo website at www.eumo-expo.com.

Louis Rambaud joins from Transdev

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06/04/2022 16:54

DIVERSIONS

Save the planet; pedal power your buses

buses in 2020 and hydrogen buses last year, so the release claimed. It continued: “As the brand new face of energy saving vehicles, each pedal

bus has 16 exercise bikes onboard and provides health-conscious customers with an option to ditch the early morning gym session in favour of snoozing, without the guilt.

“It also boasts an onboard changing room and a shower, so commuters have everything they need to freshen up after their workout before jumping off the bus into work or heading home.”

Jemima Bedell, the operator’s chief innovation officer, added: “While it may not be as relaxing a ride for customers, it does help them save money while losing pounds from their tummy.”

Groan...

with a clean white livery.

To help celebrate, National Express is urging staff, customers and coach enthusiasts to get in touch with their memories from the last half century and be part of a summer of celebration in 2022.

Chris Hardy, managing director of National Express UK Coach, explained: “We’ve clocked up 3.8 billion miles in the last 50 years.

That’s a lot of journeys and a lot of people travelling with us; whether to see friends and family, get to university, go on holiday or attend events.

“We want passengers and staff, past and present, to get in touch with us with their stories. It could be a couple who met on the coach and fell in love, a driver who dealt with an unusual item of lost property, or one of the famous hostesses referenced in the classic Divine Comedy song.”

The submissions will be collected and archived and a selection will feature in an online storybook being created to mark the milestone. Stories can be submitted by email to 50years@nationalexpress.com.

Interesting innovation launched on April 1 Once again April 1 was like catnip for the jokers and banter lovers in the industry. Dropping into our inbox that morning was a release from National Express West Midlands. It revealed it planned to launch the UK’s first pedalpowered bus service, “providing a new opportunity for customers to reduce their carbon footprint as well as their calories”.

The move was inspired by the operator’s launch of electric

Is there a jolly hostess?

50 YEARS OF THE WHITE COACHES

This year marks a big year for National Express as it’s 50 years since the express coach operations of then nascent National Bus Company were given a new look

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Superman or super bus driver?

BRADLEY HAS GOT THE RIGHT STUFF Nottinghamshire Police have praised the care and compassion of a Nottingham City Transport bus driver who came to the aid of a passenger on his bus.

Bus driver Bradley Codd noticed a senior citizen who was confused on his bus to Bulwell.

He quickly contacted his control room to request assistance for the passenger who appeared lost and unable to find her way home.

Bradley ensured the passenger was safe and well and obtained as much information from her as he could until the police arrived.

This only goes to prove that not all heroes wear capes, but some do drive yellow double deckers.

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06/04/2022 16:55