{"id":28094,"date":"2021-03-15T11:54:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T11:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28094"},"modified":"2021-03-15T15:28:17","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T15:28:17","slug":"missed-opportunity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28094","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Missed opportunity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite, representing over 70,000 bus workers, has warned that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new national bus strategy, published today (Monday March 15) will go nowhere near reversing a decade\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth of cuts to services that have left communities isolated.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore Unite believes it\u00c2\u00a0could also unleash more employment instability across the industry.<\/p>\n

The 30-plus years deregulation\u00c2\u00a0experiment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where\u00c2\u00a0the free market dictated bus routes\u00c2\u00a0has been an unmitigated failure. And while Unite said that the bus strategy is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098welcome\u00c2\u00a0admission\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, it added that the solutions proposed may not significantly improve bus services.<\/p>\n

Unite\u00c2\u00a0welcomed the proposals to allow councils to introduce franchising or entering into enhanced partnerships with operators \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which will help to remove the cut-throat competition on profitable routes, but\u00c2\u00a0is concerned that such measures will neither be uniform nor compulsory.<\/p>\n

Proposals to reduce ticketing prices, to allow for contactless payments and move towards greener buses are welcome moves \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but Unite says that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s highly disappointing the strategy fails to introduce minimum standards for bus drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay and conditions; and ignores the growing crisis of fatigue which results in accidents and leads to long-term health problems for drivers.<\/p>\n

There are also serious\u00c2\u00a0questions about the funding behind the bus strategy. While large amounts are promised, actual new funding that is immediately available appears to be limited. Unite believes the new investment will not reverse cuts by cash-starved local authorities, which have resulted in the withdrawal or reduction in service of over 3,000 bus services since 2010.<\/p>\n

Social exclusion<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A large percentage of local authorities no longer spend anything on supporting bus services, leading to\u00c2\u00a0social exclusion and reduced connectivity, especially in rural communities.<\/p>\n

The union is also disappointed that the strategy fails to allow council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s or groups of councils to operate their own services which Unite believes is the key measure in operating an efficient bus service which properly serves local communities and tackles the chronic lack of connectivity in the UK.<\/p>\n

But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alarm too over the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s support for on-demand app based services, which it believes will lead to the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUber-isation\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of bus operations \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and will create a two-tier bus service, exclude vulnerable groups, damage timetabled services and result in unhealthy competition between competing bus operators.<\/p>\n

Unite also understands that trials of app-based services have been a failure, as passengers frequently experienced long delays before reaching their destination as other passengers were dropped off first. For example a 20 minute journey could take over two hours\u00c2\u00a0on a non-timetabled service.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTravel by bus is still the most popular mode of transport in the country, connecting communities, helping people get to shops, school and work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite national officer for passenger transport Bobby Morton.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo it is extremely important that the services are stable, affordable and well-run.\u00c2\u00a0 This strategy is a missed opportunity to achieve that goal.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098De-regulation has been complete failure\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe National Bus Strategy is an admission that the 1980s deregulation of the bus service has been a complete failure. Fares have increased, services have reduced, private operators cherry-pick the most profitable routes and social exclusion has mushroomed as connectivity has been cut.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe National Bus Strategy attempts to address these issues but specifically excludes the best solution which would be to allow local authorities to work together to operate their own services.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile the franchising and enhanced partnership plans should help to reduce some of the worst excesses of the privatised bus system such proposals must be compulsory or it will result in improvements in some areas while others are left behind,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Morton said.<\/p>\n

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

Fatigue is a major worry among bus drivers. Morton continued, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll franchising and enhanced partnerships must include strict rules about bus drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay and conditions\u00c2\u00a0to ensure bus driving is an attractive profession and that problems caused by fatigue due to excessive hours are tackled.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile the national bus strategy talks about major funding, there appears to be little new money being provided and what is available does not replace what has been removed from bus services as a result of over a decade of Conservative cuts.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bProposals to introduce an app based on demand service are misguided, it will result in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Uber-isation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of services, leading to\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Wacky Races\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 on our roads as\u00c2\u00a0companies compete to collect passengers.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bApp-based services will also result in the casualisation of drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 employment and will be an expensive two-tier service with passengers who are not digitally literate being excluded,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

By Barckley Sumner <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite, representing over 70,000 bus workers, has warned that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new national bus strategy, published today (Monday March 15) will go nowhere near reversing a decade\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth of cuts to services that have left communities isolated.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore Unite believes it\u00c2\u00a0could also unleash more employment instability across the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1214],"tags":[176,252,44,718],"wps_subtitle":"New govt bus plans won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reverse cuts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and could lead to competition chaos","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28094"}],"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=28094"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28096,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28094\/revisions\/28096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}