{"id":19063,"date":"2019-09-25T15:36:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T14:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=19063"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:55:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:55:09","slug":"publicly-owned-public-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=19063","title":{"rendered":"Publicly owned public transport"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The need to reform Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s public transport system, which has suffered years of worker cut backs, route cancellations and prices rises under privatisation, was a hot topic at the Labour conference in Brighton this week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here Unite delegate and bus driver Simon Rosenthal explains why the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bus services need to be nationalised:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Public transport is not some added luxury \u00e2\u20ac\u201c <\/span>but <\/span>an <\/span>essential right. <\/span>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been a bus driver for 3<\/span>4<\/span> years and seen a lot of changes in that time. When I started I was part of National Bus, proud to be a public servant working for a nationalised company, in effect working for the government. The test I passed was for a PSV licence, this stood for public service vehicle.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the depot I worked at there were more than 60 routes to learn, many of them rural services serving the villages and communities of Leicestershire and beyond.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>Then, within a year of me starting, along came deregulation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This was going to offer <\/span>pas<\/span>sengers <\/span>a greater choice, they would be able to choose which companies<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/span> bus they caught as increased competition drove down fares and o<\/span>pened up innovative new routes <\/span>– well<\/span>, the <\/span>only thing driven down was bus workers terms and conditions<\/span> as <\/span>fares spiralled and rural and non profitable routes were cut.<\/span><\/p>\n

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My PSV became a PCV, so my public service vehicle licence is now a passenger carrying vehicle licence.<\/span> On a brighter note I do find myself once again working for the government \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not our government.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Public transport <\/span>should mean public transport<\/span>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>We can <\/span>give<\/span> passengers a comprehensive, affordable, regulated network if we take buses back into public ownership, reinvesting the profits into a sustainable transport infrastructure for the benefit of all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Or we can <\/span>carry on operating<\/span> on the basis of profit<\/span> and ignore the needs of those living in rural areas <\/span>and the most vulnerable.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>A system that sees p<\/span>rofits siphoned off for the benefits of shareholders while fares increase and bus workers<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/span> terms and conditions decline.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for a radical rethink<\/span>. Unite\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>welcome\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commitment to repealing Clause 21 of the Bus Services Act and free every council to run<\/span> its own services<\/span>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>D<\/span>eregulation and privatisation hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worked for buses<\/span>. I<\/span>t\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to take buses back into public ownership and run them once again as a public service fo<\/span>r the benefit of the passengers and our communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite bus driver Simon Rosenthal makes the case for publicly owned buses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[202,1111,999,570],"wps_subtitle":"Unite bus driver Simon Rosenthal makes the case for publicly owned buses ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19063"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19063"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24962,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19063\/revisions\/24962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}