Mayor recommended to go ahead with bus franchising scheme in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire

Bus franchising in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has moved a step closer after Mayor Dr Nik Johnson was recommended to go ahead with the scheme.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s (CPCA) transport committee met on January 24 to review findings of the bus franchising consultation which concluded in November last year.

The committee unanimously voted to recommend that the mayor chooses franchising as the best way to reform the region’s bus network going forward and he is due to make a final decision early next month.

Judith Barker, executive director of place and connectivity at CPCA, told the meeting: “We had to look at each case and all the representations and concluded that, to deliver the strategic objectives and to deliver value for money within the funding envelope, the best way forward was to recommend franchising.”

Currently, bus services in the region are mainly run by private operators which have control over the routes, timetables, ticket options, fares and frequency of buses.

Under the proposed franchising model, the CPCA would gain control over these areas and private operators would no longer be able to independently decide to withdraw services.

Instead, operators would bid to run services under franchise contracts, with the CPCA overseeing the process and monitoring operations.

A report put before the CPCA’s transport committee meeting on January 24 revealed that 1,468 participants in the consultation provided an answer to whether they supported or opposed the bus franchising proposals.

A total of 42 per cent of responses strongly supported franchising, with a further 21 percent tending to support, putting 63 percent of participants in favour of the new model.

The report revealed that 18 per cent of responses neither supported nor opposed, while seven percent tended to oppose and a further seven percent strongly opposed.

Councillor Angus Ellis, cabinet member for environment and transport at Peterborough City Council said: “I really do welcome this report and I really do welcome the fact that we are discussing this new opportunity to make a change after years and years of deregulation.

“The one thing that you can see from the consultation is that the clear majority is in favour of franchising. There is a lot more detail which will need to be gone into, for example the Peterborough bus depot. There is a big need for that to move.

“I’m really pleased that we’re in this position and I’m glad that the mayor has brought this forward so we can offer services that the commercial services can’t offer themselves because of the nature of their businesses. It’s needs over profits, which is what we need.”

The issue will be discussed in detail at further meetings before the mayor makes a final decision in February.

Mayor Dr Johnson thanked the committee and all involved in the bus reform process for their hard work and said: “I think long term, it’s going to be so important that we get this right for the whole of our populations across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.”

According to a combined authority report, the total operational costs for franchising would be £9.65 million.

The franchising option would require the combined authority to acquire bus depots. The capital costs of depots in the outline business case is £31 million, funded by £5 million non-ringfenced capital grant, £4 million ringfenced capital and £22 million borrowing.

The combined authority proposes that the following actions are undertaken alongside any approved proposed franchising scheme:

Investigate the benefits for longer mobilisation periods for some contracts, where this will support greater competition, allowing operators time to prepare franchising tenders

Continue to consult and engage stakeholders of franchising during the implementation phase, through mobilisation and then moving on to the ongoing operation phase

Ensure full and ongoing engagement with the Community Transport sector to ensure any franchising model considers the opportunities and risks for this vital sector

Work with the CPCA’s Growth Hub in the implementation phase to help it develop knowledge and expertise in prequalification and bidding support and strategic skills so that the Growth Hub can make available to all SME operators a toolkit to assist them

Include ‘safety’ as a clear separate pillar in our implementation planning, benchmarking with best practice and learning elsewhere, including Manchester, London and other Combined Authorities

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