North East mayor set to press on with bid to take control of 'broken' bus system

The North East mayor looks set to press ahead with major reform to the region’s “broken” public transport system that will see control over the bus network stripped from private companies.

Kim McGuinness announced on her first day in office in May that she was setting plans in motion to bring buses back into public hands – a key power held by the new mayor that enables them to set fares, routes, and timetables, with operators contracted to run services under a franchising system. She and the region’s leaders will be asked to sign off later this month on the next step in that process, though it could still be several years before Ms McGuinness’ promised ‘Angel Network’ becomes a reality.

It comes after complaints about cuts to services deemed not to be commercially viable by private bus companies over recent years and the transport chaos that ensued from a protracted strike by workers at Go North East in 2023.

• Read More: Washington Metro Loop questions over 'incredibly high' cost of £8m business case
• Keep up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East with our free newsletter

The mayor is also due to give formal approval to £101 million worth of more immediate upgrades to the region’s bus network – including saving at-risk services, station upgrades, park and ride sites and smart ticketing. Those are plans and funding that pre-date the creation of the mayoralty and have been previously announced as part of the North East’s £163.5 million Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

Ms McGuinness said: “Our bus system needs to work better for local people. I said I would greatly improve public transport in my manifesto and I will make this a reality. Bus travel is incredibly important to residents – it's by far the largest form of public transport in our region, responsible for 106 million journeys in 2022/23 but passenger levels have been in a steady decline for decades and are still much lower than pre-Covid levels.

“We need to recognise that the existing system is broken and things need to change if we are to grow bus use and improve things for passengers. Local people need our bus system to be more reliable - to trust buses will turn up on time - and affordable, so that cheap tickets help people reach new opportunities for work or education.”

At a meeting on July 30, the North East Combined Authority (NECA) cabinet will be asked to back the development of a Franchising Scheme Assessment (FSA), 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. That alone is expected to take two years and eight months to complete.

Ms McGuinness, who has promised to deliver the Angel Network by the end of her current term in 2028, has previously called on the new Labour government to “fast-track” her plans. A new Better Buses Bill announced in the King’s Speech this 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.

There were renewed calls for the North East to pursue a franchise system, like the Bee Network being introduced in Greater Manchester, after an estimated five million journeys were lost during last year's Go North East strikes. Campaigners warned that the episode "demonstrated the danger of private companies having monopolies over public transport, and therefore people’s access to jobs, school, and seeing friends".

Bus operators have previously dubbed the prospect of a North East franchise model a “huge waste of public money”. Go North East boss Ben Maxfield told the Local Democracy Reporting Service last year that he would “work within the confines of whatever model is in place” under the new mayor, though later added that the existing partnership model between bus companies and local councils "delivers the best outcomes for passengers and taxpayers".

Ms McGuinness added: “I hear from residents about the issues they face every day and it’s not good enough - the bus system is simply not working for the vast majority of passengers. I'm determined to deliver a high quality, integrated network so that once again public transport is something we can put our trust in, and something we can all be proud of.”

The North East’s bus network has been ‘deregulated’ since the 1980s, putting it into the hands of private operators. Gateshead Labour councillor John Eagle told NECA’s overview and scrutiny committee this week that, prior to deregulation, Tyne and Wear boasted “probably the finest integrated transport system in the world”.

He said that reforming the region’s buses was “the most important thing we have probably done since the former [Thatcher] government deregulated transport”.

However, Sunderland City Council’s Claire Rowntree said she was concerned about whether enough was being done to help “isolated communities”. She warned that consultation on bus reforms alone would likely take years, while people in some parts of her city were having to get three or four buses to get to college.