The Role of Bus Partnerships

Abstract

Great Britain (outside London) is unusual among Western European economies in leaving the planning of its bus networks to the private sector, albeit working from a long-established historic basis. It took several years following deregulation in 1986, compounded by wholesale changes in the ownership of bus operators, for new, stable and mature relationships to develop between operators and local transport authorities. The building of partnership working, founded on their common interests of encouraging greater accessibility by bus, increased patronage, and modal shift from cars – with the consequent social, economic and environmental benefits – has underpinned some impressive achievements over the last 25 years. This paper examines the role of partnerships in enabling and sustaining improvements in service quality and supply, and securing additional investment in network resources and facilities. It is based on many years direct experience of developing the partnership concept with authorities and operators and working through a variety of challenges that have arisen. In addition to this experience, we draw on 2015 data obtained from across Britain while revising government guidance on the issues. We consider the differences between models of service delivery with and without partnership, the components of successful partnerships, and the lessons to be learned from less successful implementations. Finally, we look at more recent changes in the partnership landscape, and the tensions with advocates of closer regulation, leading up to the provisions of the Bus Services Act 2017.