Emergency funding, flash sales and multibillion-pound investments are being poured into the UK’s flagging public transport networks. But, as Katie Searles asks, is this enough to keep services running?
More than two years on from the initial outbreak of coronavirus and the UK is still adapting to a ‘new normal’. This is no more apparent than in public transport sector with patronage failing to recover – bus and train operators across the country are reporting low passenger numbers and low revenue, warning that such decline could lead to service cuts.
While the UK government propped up operators during the pandemic, in the long-term this is financially unsustainable, which is why there are growing calls from within the industry for a systematic change in the way transport is funded, for new ways to raise revenue and a refocus of government funding allocation.
In April, the UK government announced that 31 counties, city regions and unitary authorities across England would receive a share of £1.2bn in funding to level up local bus services outside of London. While transport secretary Grant Shapps says the investment will “ramp up the bus revolution” – with some 40% of applicants to receive a share of the funding – and “drive down fares at a time when people’s finances are tight and help connect communities across England”, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) describes the announcement as “a drop in the ocean”.
Its general secretary, Mick Lynch, says: “This is clearly a postcode lottery as many areas that are crying out for funding for buses and local transport have missed out. It is almost as if the commitments made at the COP26 climate talks that we hosted just months ago have already been forgotten.
“This government needs to get real and come up with the funding our local transport needs and deserves and implement a proper bus investment strategy that works for people and workers not just the profits of shareholders.”
This is echoed by the Local Government Association (LGA), whose transport spokesperson, Cllr David Renard, explains that councils have been left to do what they can to protect bus services. This includes continuing to pay pre-pandemic concessionary fares reimbursement rates, as well as entering local partnership arrangements with operators. “For those places that have not received additional funding in support of the national bus strategy, bus services are likely to come under additional pressure if bus demand does not recover to pre-pandemic levels once the government’s Bus Recovery Grant ends in October,” warns Renard.
Rail sale
Similarly, while there are some signs of recovery on Britain’s rail tracks – the latest figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) show 182 million rail passenger journeys were made in Q1 2021-22, more than five times the 35 million journeys made in same period 2020-21 – this is still only 75% of pre-Covid levels, according to the Department for Transport’s figures. “Trains are a great way to travel – good for the economy, good for social mobility and good for the environment – but passenger numbers have to date not fully recovered to their pre-Covid levels,” notes Norman Baker, policy adviser, Campaign for Better Transport.
In a bid to get travellers back on trains, the UK government and rail industry introduced the ‘Great British Rail Sale’, which saw one million pre-booked off-peak train ticket prices reduced by 50% for five weeks between 25 April and 27 May 2022. While the initiative saw the price of off-peak tickets between London and Edinburgh drop from £44 to £22, and Birmingham New Street to Bristol Temple Meads from £25.30 to £12.60, the scheme was described by some as a “gimmick”.
Likewise, many criticised the ending of the sale before the school half-term break and the reduced rates not applying at weekends, while other commentators argued the sale did little to encourage train patronage in the long term.
“Rail fares need to be reduced permanently, not temporarily,” tweeted Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, while Campaign for Better Transport described the move as simply “a first step”. “It can show the Treasury that the way to increase income is to cut fares, not keep ratcheting them up and driving people off the railway,” says Baker.
“This initiative, though welcome, is but a first step.”
Value for money?
Additionally, the charity is calling for an end to “massive annual fare rises”. It wants to see a complete overhaul of the fare model to respond to new travelling patterns with better timetables to eliminate padding and poor connections. A change in public transport fares is long overdue, according to a new report by Clean Cities Campaign, a European coalition of NGOs and grassroots groups aiming to encourage cities to transition to zero-emission mobility by 2030, that highlights how the UK’s largest cities – Birmingham, London and Manchester – are ranked the worst in Europe for public transport affordability.
The Clean Cities: Benchmarking European cities on creating the right conditions for zero-emission mobility report ranked 36 European cities by how much progress they are making toward achieving net zero mobility by 2030, based on measures ranging from more space for walking and cycling to road safety and policies to phase out polluting cars. When ranked by affordability of public transport, London came 36th, followed by Manchester (35th) and Birmingham (34th). These three cities are bottom of the table due to their respective residents being asked to pay 8-10% of their household budget on monthly travel costs.
Furthermore, evidence submitted to the House of Lords Built Environment committee earlier this year provided insight into the demographic divide in public transport use, with the poorest 20% of households currently making three times as many trips as the richest 20% of households on buses, and the richest income group making five times as many trips by rail as those in the poorest income group.
Oliver Lord, UK head of Clean Cities Campaign, says: “The only way to address our air pollution and climate crisis is to ensure public transport is a cheap, reliable and accessible alternative to the car. Our new report shows that UK cities have the least affordable public transport in Europe, which will inevitably get worse given this government’s decision to increase fares in a cost-of-living crisis. This government should be helping, not hindering, our cities to play their role in meeting the UK’s clean air and climate goals.”
Campaign for Better Transport goes further, not only wanting to see fairer fares for passengers but better use of public money by Network Rail (and subsequently Great British Railways) to get more improvements for the same money, as well as fewer engineering works at times people want to travel.
Work-life balance
But is improving existing services the key to getting passengers back on trains, and buses? With a change in the way people work, commute and shop, there has been a fundamental change in the way people travel, which begs the question: does there now need to be a significant change in the way public transport is operated? The University of Leeds and the University of Stirling have been conducting longitudinal tracking studies of how people have adapted their travel patterns during the pandemic. The research looked to gauge transport choices across demographics, the impact of technology and how public policy may be shaped.
The evidence highlights a split between buses and rail due, in part, to commuting patterns. While a quarter of people use the bus to commute, the numbers on rail account for nearly half of all users, which is why there has been a well reported drop in train patronage. To work out what happens next, Greg Marsden professor of transport governance at the University of Leeds, questions what the working from home/commuting into the office split will be.
“Will they do that evenly spread across the week? In which case, the public transport system can adapt its scale, and still provide services that works under the financial modelling assumptions we’ve had to date. “Or will it be quite picky? What if there is a big peak on a Wednesday, but we have lower demand at other times during the week? We will struggle to be able to afford to provide the level of service for that peak. There’s a question to be worked out between local governments, businesses and national government – what do we want the future shape of work to look like?” he concludes.
Flexible and on demand
Affordability of public transport has been well documented as a roadblock to its recovery. Another pain point is what Campaign for Better Transport describes as “rigid, inflexible service”. “In the current environment, the traditional commercial and operating models in the transport sector are under threat and stalwarts of the sector could fail or withdraw, costing jobs and connectivity. Now is the opportunity to reimagine the shape of transport in the UK for moving people and goods,” the charity says in its report Covid-19 Recovery: Renewing the transport system.While dial-a-bus services are not new, accessible smart technology could revolutionise how schemes operate. For example, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) apps can improve personal mobility, giving users one handy app that can help plan and pay for public transport modes, it simplifies the process. Digital demand-responsive transport (DDRT) services enable riders to be free of fixed routes and timetables, instead responding dynamically to passenger demand. DDRT can also involve flexible schemes to get people to destinations – such as places of work – in areas not covered by public transport. Such schemes have recently been introduced in Aberdeenshire, Essex and the West Midlands. Lincolnshire has one of the largest and longest-running schemes in the UK.
Richard Dilks, chief executive of CoMoUK, says: “DDRT will play an increasingly important role in the future of shared transport. Shared transport is a vital part of the sustainable transport mix as it takes away the need to own a car, cuts cost of transport for many, and boosts use of public transport and active travel.”
This article was originally published in the June issue of CiTTi magazine.
