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30
Apr
Mayor eyes bus franchising model for North Yorkshire
The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has said he is in the early stages of looking at a franchising model for the region’s bus network.
David Skaith told the Stray Ferret that the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority wanted to go down the franchising route, but that it would take time to progress.
The Labour mayor has previously described bus services in York and North Yorkshire as “not good enough” and pledged to make them “accessible, affordable, and convenient”.
Bus franchising is when a local authority or public transport authority awards exclusive contracts to a private operator to operate bus services in a specific area or on specific routes.
A move towards a franchising model would mirror moves by other Labour mayors, such as Tracy Brabin in West Yorkshire and Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester.
Mr Skaith told the Stray Ferret that he felt that the current Labour government would be receptive to its plans.
He said:
We want to go down the franchising model like other mayors have done and take that back in control.
Other combined authorities have taken much longer to get there, but we have a government now who are really supportive of devolution, particularly of transport, and really press on with franchise models.
We feel that is on the table and is on the cards and we can achieve those kind of things quicker because previous mayors and combined authorities have worked under a previous government which did not put that much emphasis on devolution and into mayors.
Mr Skaith said the combined authority held a roundtable with operators a few weeks ago to discuss what interventions in can make into the network.
At the start of April, the Labour mayor issued a press release which pledged to make a number of changes as he headed down a franchise model.
Harrogate Bus Station.
This included putting £95 million into the region's transport and highways, cheaper fares for NHS staff at York Hospital and keeping £1 fares for under-19s on the region’s bus network.
He also awarded £50,000 for the Morrsbus and Dalesbus and announced an extra evening service from Harrogate to Pateley Bridge this summer.
At the time, Mr Skaith said the interventions were made as part of working towards a public consultation on franchising.
However, he told the Stray Ferret that a franchise model was still in the early stages and may take a few years to progress.
Mr Skaith said:
We know that going down a franchise model is still going to take a couple of years. So, it’s about understanding what interventions we can make along that route to have those improvements.
We have already started to implement some of those, for example investing to keep the £1 fare for under-19s. We are working with operators to look at what are those early interventions that we can bring in.
The Stray Ferret will feature a full-length interview with David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, on his first-year in charge this weekend.
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