North East Combined Authority elected mayor Kim McGuinness hosted a Mayor Meets event on the future of North East buses on Thursday 23 July at Redhills in Durham. What did McGuinness say and what did those present say about our buses in the North East?
Mayor Meets consultation
The event was promoted as an “opportunity to discuss what our future bus services in our region should look like – and have your say on the proposed Bus Franchising Scheme”.
The evening began with a short speech by Mayor Kim McGuinness. She began by thanking Redhills Hall, the recently reopened Durham Miners Association centre., which was described as the best place to have this conversation about the future of public services in the North East.
McGuinness then made it clear that public transport in the North East should be under public control as there is too much money going into the pockets of private companies and their shareholders.
As a consequence of privatisation the people of the region are not getting a reliable bus service. It was also noted that the new government of Andy Burnham has already taken action to cap fares at £2.
For there to be more reliability and better fares there needs to be public control of buses in the North East. This won’t happen overnight and is going to be a long process and we are now at the consultation phase, undertaking a proper consultation about what people want.
McGuinness announced that there have already been over 3500 responses to the consultation and there will be other public consultations.
The audience was then asked what people needed from public transport.
Questions and points from the audience
The floor was then thrown open to questions from the audience.
The first respondent noted that it was possible to go from places in County Durham to Newcastle or Sunderland but not to other local places and that families need better public transport.
Responding, Kim McGuinness said that the regional infrastructure is not good enough to be able to get to different places and that it needs improving.
Another audience member asked about transport for NHS and express buses.
McGuinness responded by pointing out that some supposedly small villages are quite big and there needs to be a better bus service.
A woman from Sacriston complained that bus services are never on time especially with other traffic on the roads and that consequently we have to get people out of their cars, by making sure that there is a real choice.
Another contributor mentioned the rural communities transport movement for flexible buses as large buses are not coming into villages and is a service on demand. This was seen as successful when there is a recognised demand for it. He then encouraged McGuinness to look into this option for rural transport.
McGuinness responded that there should be a mixture of methods for the running of public transport.
Another audience member mentioned connectivity and how there can be problems at transport hubs and asked about how antisocial behaviour can be tackled.
McGuinness replied that public safety on public transport is very important and there would be a focus on and how to manage people congregating at transport hubs is part of the plans for the future.
Somebody else noted that people often have next to no service around parts of the Tyne Valley and asked how long will it take for bus services to be more reliable.
The response was that there still needs to be a decision made about public transport and then perhaps it will take another couple of years after that. A new integrated transport website has been launched.
A commuter between Newcastle and County Durham was next, describing getting to Dalton Park from Newcastle as a nightmare. In response, it was said that the consultation was about just such problems. It was also made clear that all people are considered in the consultant it should be made as representative as possible, with contributions from many different people. McGuinness also made it clear that she wanted more young people using public transport.
Another comment was from someone who runs an organisation called Wheels to Work County Durham. He stated that bus travellers often can’t get to work in County Durham due to unreliable public transport. Wheels to Work helps people get to work and fill in the gaps. They are a very small charity and they need financial support and the money is currently drying up. Kim McGuinness responded that the NECA can look into helping out and look into support from the cost of living fund.
The next contributor said that they lived four miles from Durham but bus services are a problem. It is difficult for people to get to work at the large Amazon centre with early morning and late evening services being particularly bad. And it was further noted that parking at railway stations is often very expensive. The response was that NECA are working on the integration of services and how there needs to be more buses going to stations like Morpeth in Northumberland.
Another member of the audience offered congratulations on the introduction of the Durham Day Rover tickets. However, there is still a problem with there being few buses on a Sunday evening. In contrast to an earlier contributor, it was suggested that demand response transport is not the answer and can use up a lot of money. It is better to simply provide a proper service.
McGuinness reiterated that we need a mix of different types of transport across the region.
Another point was from someone who lives in Houghton le Spring and from next year will be going into Newcastle to the new HMRC building in the city centre who wondered if the bus infrastructure will hold up and if future public franchising will help.
McGuinness said that she is having conversations to make sure that there will be the capacity for people coming in especially with the new bus fare cap seeing more people on buses and that this extra money should be reinvested in the service.
Then a student from Sunderland pointed out that it was not only young people but older people as well who are students and that they get forgotten when using the bus while another bus fares scheme was working for most students but was then stopped.
By way of reply McGuinness said that there should be help for older students and that she is wanting to look at action to help students and people in training who are not under 22. The bus fare schemes had not stopped for the benefit of students but the bus companies.
It was also argued that we need to have buses moving during peak time and not stuck in traffic and so need more bus lanes.
It was also pointed out that there are two main problems affecting reliability: buses breaking down and lack of replacement staff when drivers get ill. Meanwhile local schools are having the problem getting students to school on time and that this is a major issue in the North East, not just at one particular school.
The response was that bus lanes should be about choice so that people have the choice of using buses or cars.
A very worthwhile conversation
This was a very worthwhile consultation about the real-life problems that people in the North East have in using public transport. It is to be hoped that the rest of the consultation goes just as well and that we can soon have a reliable, safe and integrated bus service in the North East back under public control as soon as possible.
A NEPTUG spokesperson said:
“We are encouraging the public to respond positively to the Mayor’s Bus Franchising Consultation. The current bus system doesn’t cut it. We think it’s safe to say most people want to return to a publicly controlled integrated transport system that is reliable, affordable and simple to use.
“Regaining control of our buses will mean we can once again set the routes, prices and standards, and fares can be reinvested into the network instead of into private shareholders pockets.
“It’s vital the public supports bus franchising in the North East”.
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