Councillors reveal fears they could be penalised at the ballot box if they don’t improve bus services

A report on a new partnership with bus companies has highlighted the political risk that could come if public transport continues to be decimated across the county.

Current plans include a ‘tap on/tap off’ system like an Oyster card as well as changing some road layouts to give buses priority.

The plan aim to halt a decline in passenger numbers within one year, and then to increase passenger numbers by 5% each year after that.

Staffordshire County Council also wants to introduce customer satisfaction targets and book high profile advertising campaign to promote bus services.

A report by Cllr David Williams (cabinet member for highways and transport) and Cllr Robert Pritchard (cabinet support member for highways and transport) said that despite having missed out on a £113 million government funding bid it was crucial to improve things.

The report states: “Whilst bus services are largely operated on a commercial basis, our residents are aware that the council has the power to intervene.

“Without a Staffordshire Enhanced Partnership, there is likely to be significant reputational and political risk from bus services being withdrawn.

“We are aware that local members and MPs receive a significant amount of correspondence on local bus service matters and that they are politically important.”

It adds: “A high-quality and sustainable bus network could support Staffordshire’s economy, by providing access to employment, education and training opportunities and increasing footfall in our town centres.

“A more reliable bus network could also encourage regular and new users, to consider public transport as a preferred travel option, increasing levels of sustainable travel across the county and supporting Staffordshire’s climate change agenda.”

It steered clear of recommending bus services be brought back under public control, however, which has been seen in other areas such as Greater Manchester.

It stated: “Franchising is not recommended for Staffordshire as it is very resource intensive, and it is felt that growth can be delivered by adopting the partnership model which retains the ability for our local bus operators to innovate without the significant market intervention that franchising entails.”

The report said existing work with bus operators have tempered the pace of cuts to bus services but hadn’t solved the problem entirely.

It said: “Partnership working with bus operators has prevented a significant level of service loss.

“Mitigation in this instance has been either through the use of S106 funds, transfer of eligible school students for transport from closed contracts to local bus, or a combination of both.

“Notwithstanding the substantial achievements arising from these mitigations, there remains a portion of the Staffordshire bus network that will still be lost, with consequent impact on our residents and the economy, unless this decline can be reversed.

“Growing patronage to enable the majority of services to operate on a commercial basis is vital to ensuring a sustainable bus network for Staffordshire.”

Meetings have already taken place between the council and bus operators and if the partnership deal is signed off it will run for ten years beginning in August.

The Department For Transport has provided the authority with around £875,000 to create a bus service improvement plan and partnership with operators, and the council still has over £795,000 of this left – but any money that goes unspent will need to be returned.