Labour’s plan to deliver better bus services across Crawley

Labour’s candidate for Crawley, Peter Lamb, has welcomed Labour’s transformative plans to deliver better bus services across Crawley and the wider region.

Labour’s plan could mean up to 236 vital bus routes created and saved and 43,000,000 more passenger journeys per year across the South East. The plan will also see better buses delivered faster, with the franchising process complteted in as little as two years, compared to the six-year slog endured by Greater Manchester due to the unnecessary barriers imposed by central government.

Since buses were deregulated in 1985, bus services in England’s regions outside London have collapsed, with:

• 1.5 billion fewer annual bus journeys in 2019 than in 1985
• Almost 300 million fewer miles driven by buses per year since 2010
• Thousands of bus services cut since 2010

Labour’s plans will ensure better value for taxpayer money, deliver better services for passengers and give local authorities choice over the bus system that works best for them. It will require no additional central government spending.

Where bus franchising is in place, in London and Manchester, buses have thrived. Greater Manchester improved reliability and significantly grew passenger numbers in less than a year after bus franchising went live. Labour has announced it will pass new legislation to support local transport authorities to take back control of their bus services and has set out a five-point plan to deliver better buses.

Labour will:

• Empower local transport authorities and reform funding: by giving local leaders more control and flexibility over bus funding and allowing them to plan ahead to deliver their local transport priorities.
• Allow every community to take back control of their buses: by removing barriers that currently limit bus franchising powers only to metropolitan mayors.
• Accelerate the bus franchising process: by supporting local leaders to deliver better buses, faster.
• Step in to safeguard local bus networks: by providing more accountability over bus operators and ensuring standards are raised wherever you live across the country.
• Support public ownership: by removing the Conservatives’ ideological ban on publicly owned bus companies and building on the success of award-winning public bus services still in operation.

Commenting on the plans, Peter Lamb, Labour candidate for Crawley, said:

“After fourteen years of Conservative failure too many local bus services have been driven into the ground.

“Labour will call time on the broken bus system that is holding far too many people in our community back from opportunities.

“Labour’s plan for better buses will give every community the power to take back control of their bus services, and will support local leaders to deliver better buses, faster. Helping deliver on our vital green agenda by reducing our carbon footprint while improving access to good transport options for residents.

“And our plan means vital bus services being created and saved across our region.”