MK Labour pledges to back national plan to deliver better bus services across the city and South East.

MK Labour Group has today pledged to back the national party’s transformative plans to deliver better bus services across Milton Keynes.

Labour’s plan could mean up to 236 vital bus routes created and saved and created and 43 more passenger journeys per year across the South East compared to today’s failed system.

The plan will also see better buses delivered faster, with the franchising process done in as little as 2 years, compared to the 6-year slog endured by Greater Manchester due to the unnecessary barriers imposed by central government. Since buses were deregulated in 1985, bus services in England’s regions outside London have collapsed, with:

• 1.5 billion fewer annual bus journeys in 2019 than in 19⁸⁵
• Almost 300 million fewer miles driven by buses per year since 2010¹⁸
• Thousands of bus services cut since 2010¹⁸

In Milton Keynes, the amount of miles driven by buses in the city have reduced by 36.11% since 2010¹⁹.

Labour’s plans will ensure better value for money for the taxpayer, deliver a better service for passengers and give local authorities a choice over the bus system that works best for them. It will require no additional central government spending.

Where bus franchising is in place, in London and Manchester, buses have thrived. Greater Manchester has improved reliability and significantly grown passenger numbers less than a year after bus franchising went live.

Labour has announced it will pass new legislation to support local transport authorities to take back control of their bus services and has set out a five-point plan to deliver better buses. Labour will:

1. Empower local transport authorities and reform funding: by giving local leaders more control and flexibility over bus funding and allowing them to plan ahead to deliver their local transport priorities.

2. Allow every community to take back control of their buses: by removing barriers that currently limit bus franchising powers only to metropolitan mayors.

3. Accelerate the bus franchising process: by supporting local leaders to deliver better buses, faster.

5. Step in to safeguard local bus networks: by providing more accountability over bus operators and ensuring standards are raised wherever you live across the country.
6. Support public ownership: by removing the Conservatives’ ideological ban on publicly owned bus companies and building on the success of award-winning public bus services still in operation.

Labour Councillor Jennifer Wilson-Marklew, Cabinet Member for Public Realm said: “After fourteen years of Conservative failure our local bus services have been driven into the ground.

“Labour will call time on the broken bus system that is holding far too many people in our community back from opportunities.

“Labour’s plan for better buses will give every community the power to take back control of their bus services, and will support local leaders to deliver better buses, faster. “And our plan means vital bus services being created and saved across our region.”