Bus Industry

My Lords, it gives me great pleasure to follow the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Marland, and to congratulate him on what I think were some very perceptive remarks about transport. He clearly has wide-ranging business experience, which is always welcome in this House, but the knowledge of buses and the transport industry that he has displayed in his modest contribution today is particularly welcome. It is my view that we have very good debates on transport in your Lordships’ House. In fact, we have three others this week, as noble Lords will be aware. I am sure that the opposition Front-Bench spokesperson, the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, will welcome some support on transport from the Back Benches. We look forward to many more contributions on transport generally from the noble Lord, Lord Marland. Was it not interesting how the House emptied as soon as buses were mentioned? That is not the first time it has happened, and I am afraid that it will not be the last. As other noble Lords have said, we have had a disaster with bus deregulation. I have a theory that part of the problem is that, with a few notable exceptions, very few politicians use buses outside London. That is a great shame. I am sure that the Government said in their White Paper that they had an obligation to make provision for the transport of those who cannot drive or afford trains, or who live where there are no trains. Buses can meet change in transport demand much more quickly and cheaply than rail, but, as other noble Lords have said, they have to be reliable, on time, convenient, cheap, comfortable and safe—without too many free-for-alls or an absence of buses, both of which are bad. The noble Lord, Lord Marland, mentioned the success of London, which I do not see just as a result of the franchising process. It is linked to the control of traffic lights and bus lanes under one body—this House has debated this topic many times before—and with the information that goes with that. There is a vicious circle. If you have information about the services, that is good, as you know when the next bus is going to come. The new digital displays are great. The congestion charge has helped, too. All those advances could be achieved in other metropolitan areas—and I mean all of them, including congestion charging. They should all be the responsibility of one organisation, as they are here in London under the mayor. That system is extremely successful, and I hope that we can expect legislation soon that will put it forward as an option, certainly for metropolitan areas. I am not suggesting that we go back to the 1980s or 1990s when the councils ran all the services, but local authorities, PTEs or, in the countryside, county councils probably have a much greater knowledge of what services are wanted than has been seen in the delivery of services recently outside London. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, mentioned the working time directive, complaining that it adds to the cost to bus companies of drivers. He will know that exactly the same thing has happened on the railways. They seem to have managed to get by, although at considerable cost. We all lobbied at the time to try to get that changed, ditto with the hospitals—there is a school of thought that a significant proportion of the additional costs of healthcare is caused by the directive—but we are where we are. We all have to comply. Frankly, if it is not safe for a train driver to drive trains for more than so many hours a week, it is certainly not safe for a bus driver to do so. We just have to deal with that. If it puts the charges up slightly, people will have to pay them, or perhaps there will have to be a greater subsidy. I do not know. I also support the idea of traffic commissioners having greater involvement outside London. There has to be some kind of planning regime in encouraging bus companies to use new routes, avoiding the competition issues that other noble Lords have mentioned and having an appeal mechanism for when things go wrong. The traffic commissioners are underutilised at the moment; they could do a great deal more in the enforcement of road freight legislation. However, we are not talking about that this evening. That is for another day. I hope that the working parties that have been set up as a result of the White Paper, which Ministers have recently publicised, will enable there to be a significant change—not all noble Lords are agreed on this, although we are getting quite close—in the use, quality and reliability of bus services outside London. I conclude by asking my noble friend when we can expect legislation to implement all these wonderful changes.