Written evidence submitted by South Yorkshire Mayoral
Combined Authority (BCC0087)

In South Yorkshire, buses are the most used form of public transport, but the region is currently in a downward spiral of declining demand and diminishing provision of bus services.  Since deregulation in 1986, there has been a significant decline in bus services, both in urban and more particularly in rural areas.  In recent years the bus network has shrunk significantly – from 43 million miles in 2007 to around half of that today.  As a result, SYMCA currently provides nearly £24m in subsidy for bus services, supporting some areas of the region that would not otherwise have a bus service on evenings and weekends.

The Mayor of South Yorkshire has committed to creating and rolling out an integrated public transport system across South Yorkshire which connects buses, Supertram and active travel, by 2028.  The first step in this journey has been to bring Supertram back into public control in March 2024 and the region is now poised to make a decision on franchising our buses after one of the largest public consultation responses anywhere in the country.

Committee TERMS OF REFERENCE

• a. How the Government’s proposed reforms of powers over buses in England, and recently announced funding, should take into account the particular challenges of rural areas and local authorities outside major cities, and how authorities in these areas can make best use of those powers and funding.

Buses are the most used mode of public transport in South Yorkshire.  Although a predominantly urban Mayoral Combined Authority region, South Yorkshire contains significant rural and semi-rural areas which have an infrequent (and in some instances ‘non-existent’) bus service.  There has been a decline in rural and semi-rural bus services in South Yorkshire in recent decades, resulting in higher levels of car ownership and dependency. However, large parts of semi-rural South Yorkshire were formerly industrialised / coalfield areas and contain areas of high social deprivation with lower than average rates of car ownership, up to 30% in places, and high rates of Transport Related Social Exclusion.

The Government’s bus reform powers, particularly franchising, could enable Local and Combined Authorities to address these issues, by specifying improved service levels in rural and semi-rural areas and could also permit the cross-subsidisation of rural services from more profitable urban ones. This would allow a more efficiently planned and operated network with minimum service levels specified, including improved evening and weekend services.

As there are fewer commercial services currently operating in rural areas, the expansion of rural services to achieve policy outcomes under franchising will require, greater subsidy. Greater local authority control of bus services would enable network changes to be made that would provide rural and semi-rural communities with better connections.  As rural areas are characterised by smaller populations and long routes, providing enhance service connections in a reregulated market will likely require running services at a loss, therefore cross subsidy from commercially viable routes will be key to supporting these services.

• b. The effectiveness of recent Government policy in tackling declines in bus services.

In 2007 the bus network in South Yorkshire operated 43 million miles but this has now more than halved.  Since deregulation in 1986, there has been a significant decline in bus services, both in urban and more particularly in rural areas (with some notable exceptions in tourist areas) as private bus companies are mostly running buses commercially to make a profit. This has resulted in downward spiral of demand and provision of bus services.

Within the last decade our network has shrunk by 42% and SYMCA currently provides nearly £24m in subsidy for bus services, which are not profitable but are deemed vital to the communities they serve.  Without this financial support some areas of the region would be without a bus service on evenings and weekends.  South Yorkshire did not receive any BSIP funding in the first bidding round and received a minimal sum in subsequent rounds, which has been used to maintain, rather than significantly improve the exiting network. BSIP funding has the potential to enable network improvements beyond maintaining the existing services, however the sums required to deliver transformation exceeds the funding received in our region. 

We recognise that the £2 fare cap policy resulted in an increase in patronage in some areas and offered good value for money particularly for passengers in rural areas.  However, for those areas where there is minimal or no bus service currently provided, the introduction of a fare cap has little benefit. The £3 fare cap will be of less impact generally as for the majority of bus users, even in semi-rural areas, either the commercial single fare is below that or there are multi-journey tickets or period passes which offer a lower cost per trip for regular travel.

• c. How effectively bus services function as part of integrated multi-modal networks that improve mobility for people who live in areas with declining services.

The bus network generally connects well with the region’s rail stations and tram terminals / key interchanges. Stations such as Meadowhall, Rotherham and Doncaster are well integrated between rail, tram and bus however, in the more rural parts of the region where bus frequencies are low, connectivity could be improved, especially where the local train service is also infrequent (hourly or more).

In some areas where commercial bus services have been cut, opportunities for enhanced integration with other modes have been reduced.  For example, the commercially provided Supertram Link service that connected the semi-rural areas of Stocksbridge and the Upper Don Valley to the Supertram terminal at Middlewood in North Sheffield was withdrawn, leaving passengers with an hourly bus service that doesn’t directly connect with the tram.

There are currently 23 bus companies operating in the region and over 100 types of tickets available, which can be difficult for customers to navigate.  True integration will only happen when we harmonise timetables with simplified ticketing, alongside controlled network design, which bus reform enables.  There are additional opportunities to integrate bus with other modes as part of the move to improved national management of railways under Great British Railways.

• d. The social and economic impacts of poor connectivity on access to education, healthcare, employment, and social inclusion in communities, as well as on the economy of towns and villages.

South Yorkshire NHS has done a lot of public engagement on access to healthcare services. Healthwatch Rotherham is an independent organisation that represents the people who use health and social care services in Rotherham and in 2024 they published a report that highlighted transport problems were a recurring issue encountered during engagement and signposting work.

Some of the comments Healthwatch heard included;

“From our area (Aston/Swallownest) there is 1 bus an hour and at some times of the day, less than that, there is 1 every hour and 20 minutes”

“I have been known to be standing at the bus stop for over an hour before with 2 missed buses. I often have to set off 2 hours early to appointments to avoid missing them”

Although the report is a small snapshot of people’s experiences of travelling to their healthcare appointments, it highlighted common areas of concern.  People are facing issues in getting to their healthcare appointments due to poor bus service provision.  This can mean the allocation of a whole day to travel to appointments due to a lack of frequent and direct public transport services or missing an appointment altogether due to a service cancellation.

The funding of rural bus services can be mitigated by reduced costs of healthcare nationally that is directly related to lack of (bus) access to preventive health care, including to leisure and social facilities. A franchising model enables an authority to plan networks to improve bus access in rural areas, but affordability will remain challenging.

• e. The effectiveness of current funding models and governance structures in enabling local transport authorities and commercial operators to improve, sustain and keep bus services outside major metropolitan areas affordable, and the potential effectiveness of alternatives.

South Yorkshire is a Metropolitan area, and the Combined Authority is a strategic transport authority which includes the former Passenger Transport Executive. It has a significant number of non-urban areas, so ‘metropolitan’ and ‘urban’ should not be conflated. We use our funds to subsidise unprofitable routes that would not be provided commercially and currently support 24% of services on the South Yorkshire bus network.

The cost of providing bus services outside major urban areas is significantly greater due to increased route mileage and lower levels of fares income. Future government funding to those authorities utilising the powers provided should take account of the extent of their non-major-urban areas to enable service levels to be maintained. Whilst any enhanced funding to support the higher costs of providing bus services in non-urban areas should be clearly linked to that population, authorities must still be able to set their own service levels and have complete freedom to decide where services are provided. 

We can also subsidise fares, to make buses more affordable, and are looking at trialling free travel for children. The Government’s recent £2 bus fare cap made buses more affordable for a proportion of users, and may have attracted more people to use buses, but most regular bus users are more likely to have purchased better value day, weekly or monthly tickets. Many single urban bus fares are less than the new £3 cap, but for longer and more rural journeys the ending of the £2 fare cap is likely to have made buses less affordable for some people.

Awarding BSOG funding directly to MCAs/Transport Authorities rather than going directly to operators would better enable the best possible services to be delivered at the local level based on policy rather profits. Better relationships to develop a better service for passengers.

• f. Evaluating the potential of alternative service models, including Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) and community transport, and other innovations or technologies which could support or replace buses serving less populated communities, and what steps the Government should take to support them.

The DRT model could help to fill the gap in commercially provided services in more rural and semi-rural areas and may be able to offer a more cost-effective way of providing subsidised services. SYMCA has been investigating the feasibility of establishing a DRT service in the region and is currently working up detailed proposals. The DfT could evaluate DRT services nationally to help inform future service design and delivery as there appears to be little evidence of financially sustainable DRT examples in the UK, with costs per passenger journey often in excess of £10.

Community Transport (CT) providers need help and support to encourage better service provision and adoption of innovation.  CT should be front and centre rather than as a last resort.  They are a viable option in suburban and rural areas, and where services are longer and/or less frequent they can play a stronger role in service provision, linking communities that have an irregular service with local services, leisure activities etc.

DRT and CT have some similarities and a greater understanding of how communities can play a greater role in their local transport should be explored, with CT organisations potentially having a greater ability of providing DRT.

• g. How successful Enhanced Partnerships (EPs) have been so far in improving bus services outside major urban areas, whether franchising is likely to provide a better framework for these areas, and whether there are alternative models worth exploring.

Enhanced Bus Partnerships (EPs) have provided some limited opportunities to make improvements to local bus services, such as in the provision of customer charters (‘bus promises’) and agreeing set timetable change dates and branding. South Yorkshire has had an EP since June 2022 involving bus operators, local authorities and other stakeholders. The EP is a voluntary partnership and there isn’t a legally binding contract in place.

Further, without the benefit of BSIP funding, most EPs have had very limited leverage to improve matters for those people living outside major urban areas. Services continue to decline, and fares to rise. The post-covid situation with reduced patronage and increased operating costs has now settled into a new normal, resulting in significant service reductions. This has been recognised by government by allowing BSIP funding to be used to maintain existing services that would otherwise be at risk, as opposed to its original focus on kick-starting new service provision. In South Yorkshire, the vast majority of BSIP funding received has been utilised in this way.   

Franchising gives freedom and flexibility to cross subsidise which will support the provision of services into rural areas and isolated communities (not necessarily rural, but some urban areas as well). We believe franchising will provide a better framework, whilst also highlighting that funding to support the additional costs of properly connecting non-urban communities will be vital.

• h. How well policy, funding and oversight of bus services allow services that straddle rural and non-rural areas, and local government boundaries, to be managed.

The franchising model could make provision of cross-boundary services more difficult.  We will need to work closely with neighbouring authorities as we must specify all services in a franchising scheme. Negotiations are then required with partners around ticketing, back-office systems etc.  This can be complicated so avoiding unintended consequences is important. We are heavily reliant on successful and co-operative cross boundary working.

January 2025