‘Critical’ step in overhauling West Midlands bus network moves forward
A ‘critical’ step in overhauling the West Midlands bus network has been moved forward by transport bosses.
Members of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Board approved a recommendation to own or directly lease all bus vehicles as part of its ongoing programme to move towards a franchising system.
This will include buying operator National Express’ existing fleet of diesel and electric buses at a cost not publicly disclosed at the meeting due to commercial sensitivity.
A report to the board said around a third of the National Express stock is electric and the WMCA will take over its electric bus contract.
But it also added the full franchising assessment carried out previously had expected more electric vehicles to have been purchased by the operator by now.
It also said a number of diesel vehicles had not been replaced and were now older than had been expected.
Members were told a full condition assessment will be carried out on each vehicle before they are purchased.
Should there be a shortfall in buses to run services, WMCA would bring forward the purchase of new vehicles or get bus operators to provide there own on a short-term basis.
Last year, the Combined Authority agreed to press ahead with moving to a franchise model from the current, private operator led one. A decision to purchase bus depots across the region has also been approved.
West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker said franchising will return control over bus fares, timetables and routes back into the hands of the public.
At the meeting on Friday, Mr Parker said: “This is critical to the continuing work on franchising that we’ve approved previously at Board.
“It is the right thing to do but we also need to do it the right way too.”
Sandeep Shingadia, interim Executive Director for Transport for
West Midlands, said: “The full franchising assessment recommended West Midlands Combined Authority owns the bus fleet.
“It removes a known barrier to entry and therefore increases competition for franchise contracts in the future.
“The Combined Authority has access to cheaper borrowing and, as such, the cost of fleet acquisition in time is significantly cheaper.”
