On Friday 15 March 2024 the Better Buses for Strathclyde coalition had a massive campaign win.
Our petition to Take Strathclyde’s Buses back into Public Control – signed by more 10,290 people – finally pushed our regional transport authority, SPT, to admit bus deregulation has failed and that reform of the way our buses are run is now vital.
As part of their new Strathclyde Regional Bus Strategy, SPT have committed to take forward our two campaign asks: commencing work on franchising (re-regulating the bus network) and developing a business case for a new publicly-owned bus company for Strathclyde.
But, unfortunately, SPT are risking sabotaging both of these, with their misguided proposal to sign a so-called ‘Bus Service Improvement Partnership’ (BSIP) with the private bus companies in the ‘medium term’.
This would be a massive waste of time and money, locking us into the failing deregulated system for years to come. It could take 1-2 years and cost £1.5 million to establish a BSIP, and cost £40-60 million annually to run, for another five years!
But worse still, the BSIP can only be “varied or revoked subject to agreement from operators” – something the private bus companies will never agree to as all they care about is maximising their profits.
The BSIP must be stopped!
We need SPT to use all their resources to fast-track public control instead.
From 2 April – 13 May 2024, SPT are running a public consultation on their proposals for bus reform. This gives us a great opportunity to make our voices heard.
If everyone who has signed the petition takes 5 minutes to respond to the consultation and Strongly Oppose the BSIP, SPT will have to scrap the plan and focus fast-tracking public control instead.
