South Yorkshire to go ahead with bus franchising after ‘overwhelming support’
75% of people who responded to a consultation strongly backed the idea of taking buses into public ownership
South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard is recommended to go ahead with the bus franchising as the results of the public consultation have come back with “overwhelming support” of the scheme.
At next week’s South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) board meeting, the mayor will be told to approve the bus franchising scheme which will come into effect in September 2027. It would mean SYMCA would take over routes, fares and timetables.
A report published ahead of the meeting explained that over the past decade, bus mileage in South Yorkshire has declined by 42 per cent while in 2012/13, 13 per cent of bus network mileage in South Yorkshire was supported by public funding, in 2023/24, this had grown to 24 per cent.
To address this, SYMCA undertook a bus reform assessment – and one of the options was (is) to introduce franchising in the region. The said assessment concluded that franchising, in fact, would be the best way forward.
During the process, a public consultation was conducted and the results are now in.
According to a document, almost 8,000 people took part and there is “an overwhelming” support (75 per cent strongly supported with 11 per cent in favour of the scheme) for bus franchising.
The document added: “A significant portion of the responses made reference to issues with the current bus network including service reliability, service frequency, offpeak service provision, lack of direct services, services that had been cut, deficiencies in the bus network leading to more people using cars, the quality of the bus fleet, rural bus services, the stress involved for people who rely on buses, the price of tickets and an overall failure of the bus network to meet the needs of customers, the community and the economy.
“There was a strong sentiment that services should be prioritised over profit and that buses should be brought back under public control to be run in the interest of passengers – there was a hope that franchising would enable centralised decision making and support transport integration.”
However, some still had concerns about the delivery of the scheme claiming it may “still be profit-driven”.
The report also said that while First Bus “strongly supported” the scheme, Stagecoach had a neutral (neither support nor object) approach to this.
Campaigners have welcomed the report but told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that South Yorkshire was “at a crossroads”.
Fran Postlethwaite, convenor for the Better Buses for South Yorkshire campaign, said: “These figures, and the recommendation to franchise our region’s buses, are a huge victory for communities up and down South Yorkshire. People have voted: we want our buses back.
“For too long, we’ve faced managed decline from private bus operators focussed on controlling a market rather than meeting the needs of our communities.
“If Mayor Coppard finalises this decision to franchise he will effectively turn the ignition for a gear-change for local services. Based on Manchester’s experience we’re set for more frequent buses, simpler tickets, and more buses turning up on time.
“We can’t stop here. Thousands of passengers have taken action with our campaign and we will continue to call for franchised control to give bus users a direct say over the services we rely on.”
Matthew Topham from We Own added: “Passengers up and down the region have campaigned for a return to franchised control to put strategic decisions about our bus network back in local hands. But sadly this will still leave key everyday decisions with the head offices of the private operators.”
He wants the mayor and SYMCA to strive for excellent bus services and is calling for more.
Mr Topham said: “We’ve taken over the contract at Supertram, let’s follow through and get full public ownership of all our transport.”