Government Money and Local Excitement....

Whilst I'm a keen non-follower of current affairs, especially when it concerns our 'Government' and their sponsored mouthpieces in the form of the mainstream media one cannot help observe the recent announcement about a new National Bus strategy.

This, upon further examination is not a reintroduction of the Leyland National, just as the final example are withdrawn from our railways but a more exciting passage of a new bus strategy adopted by our 'Government' as our 'Prime Minister' (he who invented an entirely new bus for London to solve a problem that never existed which has cost £15m more than otherwise would have been spent on conventional vehicles). 

As John Cash wrote in the Autumn 1996 Buses Focus article on Yelloway - the one certainty about new legislation is that it ensures the passage of the next piece of legislation. 

No, there is new money available to improve bus services across the UK. £3bn in fact. On a recent holiday to Cumbria the local radio was getting very excited about the extra £1.2m to improve bus services in the county. Assuming a bus costs £110,000 to operate each year this means 10 more buses running around the county. I mentioned this to the long suffering senior management, and she too was most underwhelmed and returned to her adult colouring book.

I don't know how many buses, in total, operate in the county, but obviously more operate during the summer months and adding 10 more to the total will mean very little overall. 

Perhaps it might mean a reinstatement of all the buses withdrawn thanks to 'austerity'. Rather like the '20,000 more police officers to replace the 21,000 we made redundant'. Well, yes and no.

You may have, by now detected a level of cynicism towards those who 'Govern' us which I have and you'd be correct in that assumption. 

Having been Conservative since 2009, the ruling administration of the county council have done extremely well at bankrupting the finances, so much so, they now want to become unitary and presumably assume the finances of the district councils instead. 

Somerset County's record of supporting public transport is fairly poor in this respect - they stopped funding the Taunton Park and Ride service in 2018 and the local district council stepped in. So much for supporting public transport. They were early adopters of the 'let's not subsidise evening and Sunday services' mantra which I found utterly cynical and unhelpful to those using services.

Since 1999, First has been the predominant bus operation in the county, and they have had their own well documented issues. On a local level, an operation which had 437 vehicles upon takeover, had reduced to around 150 thanks to 14 years of cutbacks. They still retain operation of the few commercial corridors, despite the advent of competition a few times over the 22 years they've controlled operations.

You might enquire what happened to the lost work. Well, 75% of it is still there, just not provided by First anymore.  Sadly, we're not blessed with the likes of Stagecoach whose track record of organically developing their bus operations means a general improvement overall of bus service frequencies. Instead you've got a company which expects shoulder services (those after 7pm and all day Sundays) to be subsidised or else they don't operate.

You instead get an operation which provided some level of commercial service at the times most people want to travel, and nothing at all outside of those times. This is laudable, given the indifference of the county council to fund socially necessary services but it does leave large gaps in the services. Evenings and Sundays, beyond the commercially viable corridors are unserved. 

The Somerset Bus Partnership has been set up by a number of bus users and groups in the county and they've recently published the results of their consultation with the county council. There is, unsurprisingly a high level of dissatisfaction (70% of 1,549 surveyed) with the current level of bus services in the county. More than half of those surveyed indicate that buses don't travel where people want to go, when they want to go. 

Almost half of those responding want buses to run earlier in the mornings (presumably to access work) and more evening and weekend services (presumably to access leisure facilities). None of this comes as a surprise to this bus professional. It has long been proven that shoulder services increase overall use of a bus network - as people purchase season tickets that permit more than one bus journey to be made and eliminate some car trips. Having shoulder services is marginally profitable, but will, to some degree always require local authority support, because, as already mentioned it's marginally profitable. 

It's a shame that Somerset was among many councils to take a large axe to their supported services from 2011 onwards. First in line was, you guessed it, evening and Sunday services. It's moot now of course, but a more enlightened bus operation would have taken the same stance that Kent operators took in 1997 when the County Council eliminated Sunday bus service support. 

The two largest operators simply declared the services commercial and carried on operating the services. The end result, in 2009 on my then local route run by my employers at the time (the 8 from Ramsgate/Broadstairs/Margate to Canterbury)  was that a 30 minute timetable was provided on Sundays with some Kent County support. 

Preserving the services in this way meant that the passenger flows weren't disrupted. If you withdraw part, or all of a service then obviously the customers will seek alternative ways to make their journey. The problem I now see, 10 years on from the elimination of shoulder services is that now they wish to reintroduce them. It is going to take some time for those services to register any sort of usage.  

How long will this funding be maintained?

First have retained some of their commercial shoulder services, but only on the commercially viable services.  So, there is some level of Sunday service on the 21 (Taunton to Burnham-on-Sea),  22 (Taunton to Wellington) , 28 (Taunton to Minehead),  30 (Taunton to Ilminster/Chard/Axminster) and the 376 (Street/Glastonbury/Wells-Bristol) routes, which are among the few viable services in the county. 

However the 30, the 54 service from Yeovil to Taunton and the 58 service from Yeovil to Wincanton don't presently have any evening or Sunday service. In both instances SCC support ended in 2011, but the 54 did gain a Sunday service midway through 2014 when Webberbus competed along the corridor and First wanted to ensure they retained most of the passengers through providing a commercial service. 

The standard First response each time competition presents itself is to raise frequency and reduce fares - and then reduce frequency and increase fares each time the competition is seen off.

Southwestbus assumes that it's local bus network is provided on a commercial basis. So, we set the timetables, the fares and we retain the revenues. Alongside this, there's a tiny number of services which have elements of council funding, but not to a level that requires the route to be tendered. This is called 'de-minimis' subsidy and is widely practiced in the bus industry. 

We do have peaks on our services, which revolve around college students and thus the revenue from them underpins the network. There is, or there used to be, some peak time travel from people going to/from work, which helps us. There is a large amount of off peak travel by concessionary pass holders, and unlike many South Eastern counties we do get a fair reimbursement for this. Both of these sources of revenue means we're providing a somewhat better service level than in reality. 

Let us look at how this additional money could potentially improve buses in Somerset, where Southwestbus runs it's fleet of toys.  Where would I spend it and how would it improve our network?

Local Services

We now operate town services in each of the three largest towns in Somerset (Bridgwater, Taunton and Yeovil). Extra money would be used to provide a basic evening and all Sunday timetable on the highest frequency routes. So in Bridgwater, this would be the 1&2 (Sydenham to Rhode Lane/Heathcombe Road), in Taunton, Oddly, these already have evening and Sunday timetables so require no more attention from us.

In Taunton, the busiest local services are the 1 to 4 services. 1 to 3 interwork and require a bus for each service, the 4 runs with one vehicle and is self contained - from 29th August 2021 it now gets a Sunday service, using the bus which works the 3. 1 and 2 can be provided with a single vehicle on an Evening and a Sunday, so this means two buses working the Town services.

In Yeovil, the two route town service network also gets evening and Sunday buses and this will also require two vehicles. 

Interurban Services

Our mainline service, the 15 has always operated evening and Sunday services to the northern section of route - but the western part towards Wellington doesn't see any sort of evening service provision. Historically, there's always been an evening service, but at the current time, First doesn't provide anything post 2000 hours and only operates a Sunday daytime service. 

Providing short workings between Wellington and Taunton for those 3 to 4 hours before midnight would be relatively simple - it needs one vehicle and a driver. You obviously need work through the whole day for the service to be viable - not a problem for us as we have enough small buses that can do this. 

We also operate a service between Dulverton, Wiveliscombe and Taunton - numbered the 25. This has been a route which has had subsidy support over the years in reality, but presently operates on a three hourly timetable along the whole line of route, during the daytime, six days a week. 

It has operated as frequently as two hourly along the line of route, and hourly along the busiest section between Wiveliscombe and Taunton. It's had support from both Devon and Somerset, extending to Barnstaple at one stage post the Rural Bus Grant era with Mercedes Varios operated from that end.

Southwestbus offering is more stingy - just one round trip from Dulverton in the morning, and the evening during the college terms. 

The service we operate is more reflective of the known historic passenger flows, so the bus used on the route provides a two hourly timetable between Wiveliscombe and Taunton six days a week during the daytimes. 

So, the 25 is a logical candidate for enhancement. The two hourly timetable throughout the length of route should require another bus, as will short workings between Wiveliscombe and Taunton to provide a basic hourly service. On top of this, a vehicle would need to provide an evening service and it's one route, given where it goes (the gateway to Exmoor) that would justify a two hourly timetable on a Sunday using subsidy. 

We also run the 27 between Creech St Michael and Taunton, hourly during the daytimes six days a week. First's Buses of Somerset operation provides a 2 hourly timetable 6 days a week, as part of the 29 service which meanders through a number of villages on it's way to Wells. To my knowledge, no Evening or Sunday service has ever been provided.

The 29 runs across the Somerset levels from Taunton to Wells. Historically it's had council support for enhancements of the frequency (with a Sunday service provided over a number of years thanks to the tendered operation by Southern National of the Street to Bristol service during the 1990s) but we operate a one bus service which does three round trips. There's two short workings between Street and Taunton, and another round trip during the middle of the day provided by a college bus off the 36/38 corridor. 

To bring that service to an hourly timetable throughout you'd need another two buses - and it would be possible to incorporate the 27 service into that timetable in the same way Buses of Somerset has done. So, we'd look to introduce another bus here.

The 36/38 corridor is a strange hybrid of two services. The 36 is our version of the 54, which runs between Taunton and Yeovil, taking in Langport and Somerton. Some journeys extend northwards from there to Street, and we call these the 38. Webberbus ran a service along this corridor for almost three years, but extended onward to Glastonbury and Wells, requiring three vehicles to operate the service. 

Prior to the 1990s, the 54 was the 264 and conceived in part to replace the former GWR line between Yeovil and Taunton which closed in the 1960s. So it's a long standing rail replacement service and one of the few commercial corridors out of Yeovil depot. 

During the 1990s it became an hourly service, and when Rural Bus Grant came about in 1998 it gained evening and Sunday services. The evening journeys ran through to Taunton, but the Sunday timetable required a change of bus in Somerton and you had to get the Wells service there and change over. Some clever scheduling meant that the Wells service, weekdays ran hourly onto Bristol and the combined timetable meant a 30 minute frequency between Yeovil and Somerton.

Providing the basic hourly daytime timetable on each service needs three vehicles, but we use 4 on the corridor. It is busiest between Somerton, Langport and Taunton and this is where the hourly frequency is concentrated- our buses split off at Somerton and work North/South to Street and Yeovil every 2 hours. 

From September 2021, we've introduced two evening journeys from Yeovil and a 2 hourly timetable between Somerton and Taunton on a Sunday. A nice, longer term ambition would be an hourly service on each route, combining to a 30 minute frequency over the busiest section of route. 

So we'll say two more vehicles there. 

And, finally turning to our 37 service. This is based on the 75/375 which was the other hourly plank of the 30 minute frequency Street-Glastonbury-Wells-Bristol service. We don't have a lot of interest in the Street to Wells section, after all when there's an established 30 minute timetable provided by someone else you have to put in a lot of vehicles. 

Helpfully, the end to end time between Bridgwater and Street is below an hour, so one bus going back and forth means a two hourly timetable. As we have a number of college services going into Street, and we need to get buses back to Bridgwater for fuel/water/changeovers we enhance that off peak timetable to hourly using some of the spare drivers and vehicles. 

From September 2021, we're going to provide a 'fast' service along the A39, avoiding some of the villages to provide an end to end journey to Clarks Village for people in Bridgwater. The overall frequency will be increased to 30 minutes daytimes and hourly on a Sunday. This means another bus as part of the total.  

The only other enhancement that should be there, and isn't in reality is a service between Yeovil and Yeovil Junction Railway Station. Like most rail stations, it's some two miles from the town it serves - and thanks to Dr Beeching, the 'town' station closed in the 1960s with a replacement bus service being provided. Over time, that's been pruned and at present a daytime service operates six days a week. There used to be a Sunday service, but Somerset County terminated that in 2011 when they stopped all subsidies for shoulder services. 

So, how many buses does that mean overall for Southwestbus, assuming this new money comes? Four. You need more drivers obviously, and existing buses will be running more mileage as the 'shoulder' evening and Sunday work is additional to normal weekday vehicle requirements.

Assuming the annual operating cost of a bus to be between £110,000 and £150,000 depending on your accounting policies, this would be a between £440,000 to 600,000 cost to the council each year. And those 'new' services won't immediately generate the extra passenger journeys - and in some cases, won't ever  justify that investment. 

You'd have to look at this support as long term and strategic - and so whilst new money is very welcome, I've got questions about how serious our Government is about supporting buses and the length of time they're prepared to support them.

We've been here before, with another Government back in the late 1990s. A lot of money was introduced into the bus industry thanks to the Labour Government of the time. As Somerset is a rural county it meant around £2m going into the network (at 1998 prices) - and a network of evening and Sunday services built up with some daytime enhancements of existing commercial services. Some of those shoulder services became well used (the 54 and 58 from Yeovil for instance had regular customers)

Very little of that network exists in 2021 thanks to the Conservatives' policies. Time will tell if my cynicism is justified or whether I'm spectacularly wrong.