Bus Reform and "integrated" issues.
1. A moratorium on Metrolink and other local rail expansion plans in low car ownership areas. Rail should provide an alternative to driving. It should *not* be a tool to make buses uneconomical (whether in a commercial environment or not) and therefore to force people to acquire/use private transport for all/part of their journeys.
2. At least 25% of Councillors on Transport related committees should be non-motorists and live at least 800 metres from any form of Rail. If its ok to have a "quota" system based on race, sex, sexual orientation etc.etc then its ok to have more directly relevant "quotas" on specific committees.
3. Increased spending on *effective* bus priorities. That means bus lanes must be long and unbroken; operational at set hours throughout the conurbation covering all times when there are 6 or more buses per hour using them. Any new ones should only be constructed where they reduce general traffic from 3 to 2 lanes (or even 4 to 3).
More urgently and equitable, all traffic light phasing should be reviewed, with lights prevented from changing to amber/red when a bus approaches. As a starting point, this should happen at all junctions where a bus is on the last kilometre or so of a journey to a bus station, traffic objective or major interchange point. Note; forget Stagecoach rhetoric, these should apply across the conurbation not just in the "regional" centre.
4. A new, single law enforcement agency should be set up to replace parking wardens, traffic wardens and - in terms of non-motorway, decriminalised vehicle based offences - the Police/BTP. With/without cctv assistance, they should drastically increase enforcement of illegal bus stop parking (as well as junction blocking and similar offences around schools). The current practice of "turning a blind eye" or otherwise avoiding bus stop blocking must be stopped and any warden doing so, should be dismissed. I realise this might effectively mean most of GM's current wardens being sacked, but there has to be an end to prejudice. All (net) monies collected from bus stop/bus lane offences should go straight into the Franchising (or similar) budget. Similarly, for cycling offences as the enforcement here would yield absolutely massive revenues in the short term. There is also the link that a very high proportion of conflict is between pavement cyclists and people waiting or alighting at bus stops. Three of the five times I've been hit by cyclists in as many years have been at bus stops. Other sources of revenue from vehicle based crime should also be pursued, but this might be more complicated legally.
5. As I believe has already been agreed in principle, buses should be redeployed based on current and anticipated demand and socio-economic need.
6. As previously emphasised, bus fares must be equalised. As a "ball park" figure and based on Adults aged 22 to retirement age; I would suggest;
Flat single fare of £2. Possibly increasing to £3 for journeys over 6 miles (10km) & for single journeys between 0001 & 0400
Day Rider/daily cap of £5
Weekly ticket (any 7 days) £17 (this would *include* Night buses as the premium proposed for single fares would not be intended to penalise Night workers)
Annual ticket; £750
These fares would be valid on all registered local bus services *and* on city centre Metrolink as already enjoyed by Rail users.
In the short term, I'm not expecting there to be more than a tiny number of Limited Stop/Express services (re) introduced, so its pointless considering an alternative charging mechanism. In the longer term this might change as it is obviously intended that traffic speeds will improve due to reduced congestion.
7. Vehicle specificaton: Age limits per se are pointless. However, all buses in GM should be Euro4 or better (this will happen on all routes into the city except via London Road anyway due to a seperate LEZ). Also all bus seats must be fully cushioned throughout (single deckers) and on the whole lower deck (including over the wheel arches) and at least 50% of the upper deck. Further, all buses should be fully re-cushioned every 5 or 6 years (based on seperately negotiated engineering overhauls to minimise cost and downtime).
8. Security and passenger facilities at bus stations must be dramatically improved. Bus Stations are for bus passengers not smokers and cyclists passing through or motorists taking short cuts. If passengers are being charged 30p to use toilet facilities the toilets should be maintained and regularly cleaned. Again, a zero tolerance for offenders should be taken, with revenues put straight into the Franchising (or similar) current budget.
9, Facility charges for Operators should be dropped (although this would logically happen anyway with GMCA control of service levels), although penalties for stand blocking would still apply. "BSOG" arrangements should be reviewed (and obviously renamed) as with Devolution it would just look like money laundering or at the very least pointless administration/bureaucracy.
10. I don't know that its possible to introduce things like workplace parking levies - and certainly not *before* bus services are considerably improved - as the opposition lobbies are just too powerful with their friends in the media. However, local councils must stop reducing parking fees on Council-run car parks. They should also be banned from promoting such anti-public transport measures in Bus Stations, as Tameside MBC did when they capped all car parking at £2 a day from last year.
And that's just "off the top of my head". I've deliberately not talked about "what it will cost" (other than revenue streams from criminals) as you only have to look at the spending/wastage on other forms of transport both locally and nationally - and indeed other areas of spending such as the cost of keeping criminals in the lap of luxury - to know that this will boil down to a question of priorities and ethics.
