Two of the North East’s biggest bus operators have reacted positively to the North East mayor’s plan to strip them of power over routes, timetables, and fare prices.

Kim McGuinness has made major reforms to seize control over buses one of her core pledges as the region’s new political figurehead, promising to reverse a decline that has led to mounting frustration over strikes and cuts to services deemed commercially unaffordable. The North East’s bus network has been ‘deregulated’ since the 1980s, putting it into the hands of private companies, but the mayor has the power to bring the system back into public control.

That would mean that services would be contracted out by the North East Combined Authority (NECA) to operators, with the mayor able to set ticket prices and other crucial details about how services would run. The idea has proved unpopular with the private operators in the past – with it having previously been dubbed a “huge waste of public money”, while Ms McGuinness’ Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham endured a protracted legal challenge to his Bee Network.

But bosses at Go North East and Arriva, two of the big three operators in our region, have now spoken in positive terms about the prospect of a bus franchising model here. Both spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) ahead of a NECA meeting next week, where political leaders are expected to back a crucial next step in the major transport overhaul.

Ben Maxfield, business director at Go North East, said: “We are greatly encouraged by the mayor's recognition of the vital role buses play in the North East and look forward to collaborating with her and her team. The mayor has made bus franchising a priority in her campaign. At Go-Ahead, we have extensive experience with franchising in Manchester, London, and internationally, and we stand ready to fully support a successful transition to this new framework.

“Implementing franchising, if it proceeds, will take time. Until then, we will continue to work with the North East Combined Authority and local authorities to grow and enhance the local bus network."

Go North East boss Ben Maxfield
Go North East boss Ben Maxfield

A prolonged strike by Go North East workers that caused severe disruption last year provoked fresh calls for buses to be returned to public control. Transport chiefs in Tyne and Wear had previously tried to take buses back into public hands under a proposed ‘Quality Contract Scheme’, but that was rejected in 2015 when it was deemed that the idea would not deliver value for money.

Kim Cain, area director for Arriva North East said: "We share the vision of Mayor Kim McGuinness to deliver a greener and better connected public transport network for the North East. We know from our experience in London and across Mainland Europe that franchised networks can deliver successful and high performing services.

"Alongside careful consideration of longer-term structural changes to the bus model in the North East, it is crucial that interim steps are taken to support the region’s network and help make travelling by bus a quick and reliable choice. It is encouraging to hear there’ll be support for upgrades to the region’s bus network.

“We hope this will include a focus on delivering bus priority measures and infrastructure upgrades to ensure fast and dependable journey times. Such initiatives are essential for growing passenger numbers and unlocking the economic, social and environmental benefits from increased bus usage. We look forward to working together with the mayor and the North East Combined Authority to help deliver the vision for improved bus services and removing the barriers to improved services."

Ms McGuinness has pledged to deliver her proposed Angel transport network by the end of her first term in 2028. However, that is likely to depend on the Labour government agreeing to her request to speed up the franchising process – with NECA having warned that the development of a Franchising Scheme Assessment, a “complex statutory legal process” that will set out the detail of how the mayor’s plans to take control of the buses will work, will take almost three years alone under current rules.

The Better Buses Bill announced in the King’s Speech last week is expected to widen bus franchising powers for local leaders across England and allow them to be delivered “at pace”, Downing Street has said. Meanwhile, the mayor is also due to give final sign-off next Tuesday to previously-announced £101 million worth of more immediate action on the region’s bus network – including saving at-risk services, station upgrades, park and ride sites and smart ticketing.

She told the LDRS: “I really want to see publicly controlled buses in my first term. That really does rely on us being supported by government to do this quicker. It is really exciting for me that it was in the King’s Speech, it is really positive for the region, and we will go as quickly as we can to deliver a better bus service for the people across our region and integrate it into our other public transport services at the same time.”

The Labour mayor added that she had held “positive and constructive discussions” with bus companies since taking office, saying that franchising was "urgently" needed to combat a "huge decline" in services. She said: “They clearly want to work with us and that is how I intend this to go. I want us to work together, I don’t want a combative process.

“I want to make sure we are doing everything we can to improve bus services, integrate our public transport, and make it as accessible to as many people as possible, while at the same time progressing the process of taking public control of our buses so that we are not answerable to shareholders when it comes to getting passengers around our region.”

Stagecoach, the North East’s other major bus operator and one of the firms which brought a case against Mr Burnham’s reforms, was unable to provide a comment when approached by the LDRS this week.