Demand for Improvement to Bus Services

Bus services in the UK are one of the highest used travel services in the country. They are essential for getting people around, but many feel that the services being provided by many bus companies are not a good enough standard.

Over three times as many people travel by bus than by train, but bus passenger still feel that they are not given as good service as someone travelling by train.

Louise Ellman MP, who is the chair of the Transport Committee, has said that;

“More than five billion journeys are made by bus in Great Britain each year, to workplaces, schools, shops and hospitals. While some bus services are good, too often passengers are dissatisfied with the reliability of the service, the level of fares and the need to buy another ticket if the trip involves two bus companies.

“More competition among bus operators may improve services in some areas but many routes simply cannot sustain more than one operator. It is worrying that the Traffic Commissioners who are responsible for bus safety and punctuality monitoring appear to have insufficient resources to carry out these crucial roles as effectively as they would wish.

“Outside London, the quality of bus services depends on partnerships between local authorities and the bus operators. Some partnerships, such as we saw in Oxford, are working well but effective partnership working needs to be developed more widely.”

The Transport Committee have also said that local authorities are given the right tools and resources they need to improve the local bus services. In some areas rail has taken priority over the bus services and in these cases some improvements may need to be made. The improvements would need financial assistance and the support of the government.  

They feel that different local authorities should be allowed to choose the areas, partnership and franchise options. The government should have readily available funds for the local authorities wishing to improve the bus service for the area.

The bus service industry has five main companies who should take a strong leadership and aim to resolve any issues passengers have with the service provided. They have also noted that easier ways to pay should be introduced such as smartcards and services information should be widely available to customers. They need to create a more stable service for everyone to use.

So what do you think the bus services are like in your area? How do you think they could be improved?