{"id":13317,"date":"2017-09-12T12:24:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T11:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13317"},"modified":"2017-09-12T12:24:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T11:24:43","slug":"back-public-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13317","title":{"rendered":"Back into public hands"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deregulation has been a disaster for UK buses \u00e2\u20ac\u201c research has shown that it has translated into higher fares, worse services and a fall in bus use and lower pay for bus workers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the big cities outside London, bus trips have halved from about 2bn per year before deregulation to about 1bn per year now.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking in support of a motion calling for a safe, secure, accessible, and most of all publicly owned railway, Unite delegate and bus driver Paul Ainsworth made a passionate case against privatisation and deregulation at TUC conference today (September 12).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPrivatisation and deregulation have wrecked key parts of our transport sector,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ainsworth said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need a major shift away from further privatisation and deregulation and towards more public ownership and accountability.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDeregulation of the bus industry outside London makes the strongest possible case for public control of buses,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ainsworth cited research by \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Transport for Quality of Life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 which shows a fundamental conflict between deregulation and a world-class bus system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe report shows the best bus companies are municipal, run by local councils, yet the Government has driven through a ban on setting up any more in the teeth of Labour opposition.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Against this backdrop of historic bus deregulation and privatisation and its consequences, Ainsworth stressed that a publicly owned railway system is just as important for an integrated and reliable transport system as regulated buses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans for rail are another attempt to dismantle a key service in pursuit of private profit at the expense of passengers and rail workers\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe same ideology that led to the disastrous privatisation of the railways, designed to appease the interests of privatised train operating companies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd yet \u00c2\u01411.5 billion could be saved over five years if routes, including the Northern, Transpennine and West Coast Main Line, were operated by the public sector,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ainsworth pointed out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He slammed the government for ignoring the facts and extending franchises. After all, disruption costs are born by the taxpayer and not the franchise holder transferring investment risk.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo Unite welcomes the commitment in the Labour Party Manifesto to bring private rail companies back into public ownership,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ainsworth said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ultimately, Ainsworth argued that what public ownership and control gives is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe opportunity for a properly integrated transport system.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBus networks need to interlink with rail networks or park and ride systems,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPublic transport requires transferrable ticketing and access to properly regulated taxis. Ports and airports need good road and rail links.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Urging Congress to support the motion, he again made the call for a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bproperly accountable, integrated and accessible public transport system.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The motion was passed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0 Deregulation has been a disaster for UK buses \u00e2\u20ac\u201c research has shown that it has translated into higher fares, worse services and a fall in bus use and lower pay for bus workers.   In the big cities outside London, bus trips have halved from about 2bn per year before deregulation to about 1bn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[193,365,252,74,792],"wps_subtitle":"Unite backs call for public, integrated transport ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13318,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13317\/revisions\/13318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}