The arrangement in Oxford is a Voluntary Quality Bus Partnership.
There are two kinds of QBP - Voluntary or Statutory.
Both versions allow the relevant local or transport authority and bus operators to co-operate with each other on a wide range of issues, including formal co-ordination of both timetables and fares. It is the responsibility of the relevant local or transport authority to formally certify the provisions of a QBP agreement as being in the public interest, in order to avoid problems with competition law.
The key difference between the two versions is that a Voluntary QBP is just that - voluntary. The provisions of a Voluntary QBP are not legally binding on the relevant local or transport authority & bus operators, and new entrants to the market do not have to adhere to them either.
The provisions of a Statutory QBP, however, are legally binding on the relevant local or transport authority and bus operators. Furthermore, new entrants to the market are also legally bound by the provisions of a Statutory QBP if they operate in the area that it covers, regardless of the fact they did not originally choose to sign up to it.
Obviously this means that signing up to a Statutory QBP is a big commitment for a bus operator, which is why they are usually proposed as part of a wider package of significant bus infrastructure upgrades that benefit the bus operator to the extent that they make signing up worthwhile.
This Transport Committee
report expands further on the Oxford Voluntary QBP:
We visited Oxford to learn more about partnership working from the operators, local authority and bus users. Stagecoach and the Oxford Bus Company have registered a Voluntary Partnership Agreement which allows them to coordinate timetables and ticketing. We found the visit helpful and the results encouraging. The companies have jointly introduced a SmartZone smartcard that allows passengers to travel on any local bus in the Oxford area. In addition, bus services have been rationalised, in cooperation with Oxfordshire County Council, in order to reduce congestion and pollution in the historic city centre streets. Passenger numbers have increased and the city centre environment has improved. A clear message that we took away was that successful partnerships come from building long-term relationships and mutual respect. In the case of Oxford, the right legal framework was also crucial to enable coordination of services and ticketing.
The last point was not lost on the Competition Commission, which cites Oxford as a successful example of a partnership between the County Council and the two main bus operators which maintains competition between the bus operators.
A very recent precedent has been set right on the doorstep of the TransWilts in the form of the Salisbury Voluntary Quality Bus Partnership. This was agreed between and signed up to by Wiltshire Council, Salisbury Vision, Wilts & Dorset, Stagecoach and Hatts Travel on 25 July 2012, and the public version of the contract can be found
here. Whilst this stops short of formal co-ordination of timetables and fares, a number of the provisions do go some way towards this:
"12. In co-operation with the bus operators, to minimise the number of occasions on which major timetable changes take place and, where possible, provide as much advance notification to the council as possible where changes are likely to have an impact on current service provision (^Major timetable changes^ means changes to routes and changes to service frequency of more than a five minute reduction or increase during the period Monday-Saturday 7am-7pm)."
"22. In recognition that the true competitor to the bus is the car, to undertake, maintain and support initiatives marketing all bus services in Salisbury as a whole so that customers can easily find out about and use buses provided by all operators."
"27. To make amendments to services through timetable alterations, rescheduling, route changes, and number of buses, as necessary to meet any requirements agreed by appropriate members of the partnership, no operator member being able to influence the amendments that another operator is required to implement at any time."
"A working level commitment to regular and timely constructive dialogue on operational issues."
"Mutual sharing of information on operational issues so that areas for action can be identified, on the understanding that the information will only be shared with a third party in accordance with any data sharing agreement."
"To agree an implementation plan, reviewed annually, taking a corridor by corridor approach which will be incorporated into the council^s capital programme and informing investment and business plans of the relevant operators and groups."
"Maintenance and expansion of the bus priority, arrival prediction and information supply elements of the Real Time Information (RTI▸ ) system, and extension where practicable to all operators through a service level agreement, utilising partners^ existing and emerging technologies and business management systems to reduce the overall operating costs of the system."
"Investigation and investment by the partners, where appropriate, to improve on-bus ticketing through the introduction of innovative ticket products and delivery systems, including smart ticketing applications, to reduce bus stop dwell times and achieve a reduction in the proportion of cash fare payers."
"Passengers have the option to buy tickets that can be used on the buses of more than one operator."
"Passengers and potential passengers are inspired to use the public transport services of all operators in Salisbury as an integrated system."
Its not all been plain sailing in Salisbury, though. One of the most trumpeted aspects of the QBP deal was a new waiting room and wall mural at the bus station, a pledge that became worthless a few months later when it was announced that the facility would be
closed and sold.By adapting
grahame's ZigZag bus service proposals, I have put forward a proposal for a TransWilts area Quality Bus Partnership to Wiltshire Council, Bath & North East Somerset Council, First, Faresaver & Frome Minibuses, and I await their responses with great interest.
I also believe that the formation of a TransWilts area QBP would leave its partners well placed to benefit from future funding of a similar nature to the
Better Bus Area Fund award that Wiltshire levered in for the Salisbury QBP, along with associated funding opportunities arising from
BSOG▸ reform, which they would be less likely to benefit as much from if they went down the more draconian, last resort approach of the Quality Contract Scheme.
