Status update - Wiltshire buses

In answer to an email query ... I would be interested in the thoughts of some of the bus experts we have around on the forum who have been following the bus bill closely.

"Wiltshire is actually a lot better provided with supported buses than many counties. But there’s a strong chance of significant changes in the next two years.

Significant cuts for the 2017/18 planned for the 2017/18 year in bus support were trimmed right back. There are “only" 10% cuts when the proposals were either a 50% or 90% cut. I suspect that’s partly due to the extensive reaction that the council got to their suggestions, and the fact that all the councillors are due to stand for re-election in May, so didn’t want to take what was going to be a negative and high profile decision that would have been implemented just as they asked the electorate to vote them back into power.

The Bus Services Bill is expected to be passed into law within the next 3 months, and that provides for some extra routes through which the bus network as a whole can be co-ordinated to make it more efficient and attractive to passengers; there’s “Advanced Quality Partnerships”, “Enhanced Partnerships” and franchising. in all cases these involve bus companies working together to carry the daily passenger rather than the current system used in Wiltshire, where they compete head on and get referred to the Competition and Mergers Authority upon any sign of co-operation, based on the premise that be co-operating they are forming a cartel which makes it impractical for anyone else to enter the market.

A potential problem for us in Wiltshire with the bus services bill is than all of the options require input / overseeing / action / support from the local transport authority - that’s Wiltshire Council, and some require an element of funding from there too. But Wiltshire Council has been cash strapped and unwilling to take risks - at times there’s a feeling that established procedure takes priority over common sense. If than continues, established procedure will see lesser used or more expensive to subsidised services continuing to be lost, having a knock on effect that passenger number will shrink further on other services as people can no longer make their complete round trip, leading to the services that were previously unsupported or needing less support needing more money and being cut. A downward spiral.

Over 95% of households in some Wiltshire wards own cars, and many of the current cabinet of Wiltshire Council represent those (rural mostly) wards. Other wards (mostly towns) have car ownership at between 60% and 70%, but typically the councillors for those wards don’t represent the current ruling party. There are potentially very different outcomes for public transport in Wiltshire is we end up with an absolute majority (which party?) or a hung council or coalition in May, and on who and how strong the elected members who are give a transport brief are.

Whatever happens, I don’t think we can assume that the bus and rail network in Wiltshire will carry on quietly “as is” for the next four years."