By Dr Stephen Goss
In Reading Today last week, it was reported that Reading Buses had recognised its latest ‘Stars of the Month’: significant employees playing their part in delivering a key public service.
Living in a vibrant, busy town like Reading, we tend to take buses for granted; a service always there when you need it, with buses part of the normal urban backdrop.
Buses are the most regularly used form of public transport, with twice as many journeys as trains. Roughly four billion journeys are undertaken by bus annually.
However, over the years, reductions in central and local council funding for this vital service have resulted in provision being reduced or withdrawn entirely across the country.
Some rural areas have become ‘transport deserts’.
Furthermore, bus fares have risen by over 55% since 2012 – a faster rate than either rail tickets or motoring costs.
Many places have to deal with infrequent and unreliable services, and traffic – especially in rush hour – reduces journeys to a crawl. Covid and Lockdown have not helped, with many people reluctant to or even fearful of travelling on public transport. The first year of the pandemic alone saw 16% of bus services cut by operators.
For the past decade the Campaign for Better Transport has been pressing for a nation-wide bus strategy to redress these issues and create an affordable, modern, and sustainable bus network across the country.
It has been lobbying for lower fares, greater bus priority, more involvement from local authorities and zero emissions buses.
Last year, the government published its national strategy: Bus Back Better and announced £3 billion of funding to implement it.
The strategy will ensure buses are more frequent and reliable, better co-ordinated and cheaper. Main road services in towns and cities will be so regular that timetables will be unnecessary.
To reflect the 24-hour pace of life today, services will run later in the evening and more often at weekends.
In regions with barely any service at present – such as rural areas and out-of-town business parks – smaller vehicles better suited to demand will be introduced. The success of bus operations in London will be the model for the rest of the country, where these improvements radically increased passenger numbers, reduced traffic, cut pollution and carbon emissions, and provided a boost to the most disadvantaged.
This is an important element of the Conservative’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.
It will also contribute to the Government’s ambitious targets to decarbonise the UK economy in order to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050.
Passengers are disproportionately from the less advantaged groups in our society. Better services will strengthen communities, revitalise town centres, and make travel possible for the isolated and those with accessibility needs.
The strategy seeks to change the image of buses as the last resort for those without alternatives. London demonstrates that bus travel can be made attractive enough that people opt for it rather than driving. The national plan will support the purchase of over 4,000 new zero emissions buses and set a date for ending the sale of new diesel buses in Britain.
What does this mean for Reading? The Government has announced £26.3 million for Reading under the strategy, in order to improve bus services and reduce costs for commuters.
The next four years will see investment in bus priority measures, provision of greater capacity, and a faster and more frequent service introduced. Over the past ten years, the Council has overseen an increase in the number of pockets of deprivation in the town. From none in 2010, to five in 2019 – which are amongst the 10% most deprived areas in the UK. An affordable and efficient service will provide the means by which those in most need can access education and employment.
The National Bus Strategy is an important step towards overhauling our transport network, levelling-up and reaching Net Zero. It will be transformative for Reading and communities across the country.
Dr Stephen Goss, Abbey Ward Representative, Reading East Conservative Association
