‘Lifelines of our communities’

Unite EC member Mohammad Taj addressed TUC Congress on transport today (September 14).

Unite has a long and proud record of representing transport workers and making the case for high quality transport and for public transport.

“I am a bus worker and I want to speak about bus services,” said Mohammad.

“Let’s not forget those immortal lines of Margaret Thatcher who said, ‘If you are a young man of 26 and still riding a bus you are a loser,'” he added.

Mohammad has been a bus driver for more than 41 years.

“Buses are the most frequently used and the most democratic form of public transport,” said Mohammad.

“They are the lifelines of our communities,” he added.

But the Campaign for Better Transport reports that there have been 2,000 bus routes cut since 2010 and nearly 500 services cut in the last year alone.

“We need more public ownership and accountability,” said Mohammad. “Privatisation and deregulation is not the answer.”

It was a Labour mayor that changed things for the better in London, Mohammad explained. But under Boris Johnson public transport has been attacked.

Mohammad referred to Sadiq Khan, who won the vote to be London’s Labour mayoral candidate on Friday.

“I am sure that the next Labour mayor of London, the son of a bus driver, will change it again,” he said.
As a bus worker himself, Mohammad knows firsthand of the disaster privatisation and deregulation has caused in the bus industry.

“We need an integrated network of properly regulated bus services run for the benefit of passengers, not for excess profit,” said Mohammad.

Unite represents 90,000 bus workers who have been in the forefront of trying to repair the damage caused by bus deregulation.

Unite will be at the forefront of challenging any threats to bus services that may be in the forthcoming Buses Bill, Mohammad noted.

‘Quality Contracts’ give local authorities the power to determine service delivery, set affordable fares and stipulate decent terms and conditions for bus workers.

“It is shameful that operators are against this,” said Mohammad.

“A transport policy based on market forces cannot meet the national interest,” he added. “Support the campaign for a national integrated railway under public ownership and support a campaign against cuts to bus services.”