The Bus Chronicles: The Fight Goes National

Non-franchised Derbyshire buses, including the excellent 199

As you will have seen from my previous journalism on bus re-regulation, one of the predictions I made (as early as 2019) was that the Better Buses for Greater Manchester campaign was a fight that had national repercussions. Crap bus services weren't only pissing people off in Greater Manchester after all; the whole of the UK was feeling knobbed off about it, and had been doing so for years, decades even. 

It wasn't a surprise then to see campaigns for re-regulation starting in (to name a few off the top of my head...) West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Liverpool, Cardiff, Bristol, and Peterborough. Not to mention the already pre-Manchester campaigning that had been taking place in Glasgow. 

At the very end of 2023, I also became aware of the existence of the newly founded national Better Buses campaign. A coalition of campaigns and campaigners that seeks to keep everyone up to date on what's going on where, and how they can get involved. You can find out more here. You can also read and download their campaign statement here. Meetings are held on Zoom and are open to anyone interested in attending. Just email them for the link. 

What's particularly gratifying about the national campaign is that, like all the local campaigns I've come across, they don't view franchising as the end of the re-regulation process. They welcome the recent change in the law that now allows local authorities to set up their own bus companies, but what they ultimately want is a return to the status quo, pre 1986, but with better services. A laudable ambition that would be better than franchising. 

I do urge anyone who is concerned about the state of their local bus network to get involved with the national Better Buses campaign. There is bound to be a local campaign going that would fit your concerns and, if there isn't, you would be able to meet people with similar concerns who would be able to help you to launch your own local campaign. They are a formidably organised bunch and they are getting shit done.