A public consultation is planned to launch before Christmas following plans to franchise West Yorkshire buses, and bring them back under public control.
Franchising the bus system would allow West Yorkshire combined authority control over setting routes and fares.
The main aim of the scheme is to lower bus fares and increase the range of routes.
The consultation will involve speaking to bus operators, passengers and members of the public, and ask them what they think of the franchising idea, and whether they like how the buses are currently run.
Mathew Hardill, financial controller at first bus said, “franchising gives authorities full control in deciding the bus routes, frequencies and running hours of the services. Meaning they can be set a level that best suites the area and its passengers rather than a level that’s been compromised by operators.”
“Bus franchising is definitely achievable, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Manchester, has already launched bus franchising, as a result Transport for Greater Manchester has started discussing with operators the various franchising network that will take place in that region.”
Councilor Barry Anderson isn’t in favour of franchising he said, “yes the bus companies have let us down, yes they could have done a lot better, but in the short term the best thing would be to go for the advanced passenger partnership, then look at if the bus services don’t positively react to this last chance they have to get things right.”
The consultation is set to be launched before Christmas, with the final decision on future plans likely to be made next spring.
