National. Bus. Strategy.

There are a number of interesting and exciting things about Bus Back Better, the National Bus Strategy for England.

The first thing that is important about the National Bus Strategy is that it is a strategy – it emphasises the strategic importance of buses for achieving national goals from net zero to economic recovery and doesn’t hold back on their potential. It’s a manifesto for change which starts by setting out exactly how the bus system (if you can call it a system) fails passengers, and how, in failing passengers it fails communities, both urban and rural.

Many of the failings are down to the deregulated marketplace for bus services, which actively prevents bus operators from cooperating by law. This is exacerbated by the industry’s siege mentality, focusing on attempts to maintain market share and shore up passenger numbers in a (seemingly) dwindling market. There also a disconnect between ‘for profit’ mass transport corridors and routes in low density areas which require subsidies from an ever-shrinking pot in order to run at all.

The net impact is that services (in general) have reduced in frequency, run over smaller areas and increased in cost. They are both less useful to the travelling public and less compelling as a transport option. Without reliability in frequency, coverage and price, the bus has become less relevant.

The second significant aspect of the Strategy is that it compels local authorities and bus operators to work together. Where the Bus Services Act of 2017 had begun to roll back some of the deregulation of the 1980s through measures including mandating data sharing, encouraging partnership and no longer completely banning franchising, the National Bus Strategy expects to see operators and Local Authorities working together in Enhanced Partnerships and to actively look at the potential for franchising. It makes Enhanced Partnerships a minimum condition for the receipt of future Bus Service Operators Grants. Until now, Transport Authorities considering franchising have done so whilst under threat of legal action by operators. The sea change is likely to reduce these kind of cross-winds for authorities seeking better control of network planning.

And the third is the way in which it highlights financial support for buses, through investment and ongoing support. This includes infrastructure (like priority bus lanes) and zero emission vehicles, plus technology (which would enable fare capping and integration in Mobility as a Service). It also explicitly looks at the ongoing support for the industry being related to ensuring a strategic bus network – high frequency services in urban areas and reliable coverage – including, potentially, on-demand – services in less dense rural areas.

These three elements could represent a major shift in bus provision with the potential to really change the trajectory of bus travel.

Some good news

Last week I heard formally that I’ve been awarded a fellowship by the Foundation for Integrated Transport. I’m really grateful to have some time to pursue some of the research that falls outside my consultancy in a bit more depth.

A few months ago I started writing a paper for rural mobility workshop for the University of Hertfordshire’s Smart Mobility Unit. I got knee-deep in data looking at travel patterns between central Manchester and the Greater Manchester urban areas, and it just got more interesting. I wrote a proposal for the Foundation to give me some time to do more analysis (not just data, but lived experience as well) and I’m fortunate to have been awarded a fellowship to study it more deeply. It’s a real honour.

Some of the things I will be looking at include:

• Data analysis of 6 suburban/peri urban areas in Greater Manchester to show car vs other commuter patterns.

• How often is transport given a high accessibility score at both origin and destination? To what extent does this correlate with public transport use / car driving?

I hope to create some detailed profiles of the areas and examine:

• More granular mapping of transport accessibility index

• Select some key journeys and analyse possible transport routes, costs and timings. Do they support the accessibility indices?

• Compare with experience based profiling (eg connectivity / interchange times are not included in the indices) plus walking time and infrastructure for walking.

• Analyse these routes against current deregulated and also commissioned services.

• Analyse whether new demand responsive transport and micromobilty modes would improve connections between people’s origins and destinations. Could they reduce the need for car journeys and make MaaS possible? What are the cost implications and benefits for local authorities?

I’m hoping that this time will allow me to do some thinking about better data on pavements too as safe active travel routes will be one of the important components for any MaaS platforms to be useful.

I presented a summary of my thinking (pre the fellowship to FISITA recently - you can read it here.

And below is what I like to think of as the start of my mapping adventures. I hope it will become more complex and sophisticated in time.

Congratulations too to fellow FIT fellows Alistair Kirkbride and Jonathan Tyler. You can read more about our fellowships here.

Please do get in touch if you’d like to follow this project. I am hoping it will be something that will contribute to the wider discussion of Mobility as a Service.

New mobility in a crisis?

I was asked for my thoughts about the impact of the COVID19 crisis on mobility as a service and future transport by Sandra Witzel of Skedgo. Here’s what I said:

I think that the widespread social distancing and lockdown measures have two main impacts. 

The first is pretty obvious; reduced demand. We can see the impact of working from home and people on furlough on transport data trackers such as Citymapper’s index. Demand for online ordering and delivery has rocketed and we’re seeing the replacement of shopping trips by delivery on a grand scale. 

The second is that as the roads empty, there is more room for cycling and walking (and indeed to maintain social distancing we need wider pavements). Bike share and e-bikes have stepped up to help NHS and other key workers make their essential journeys. Other shared transport providers - Liftshare, HiyaCar, Zipcar are all stepping in. Even tech enabled taxi services are creating fare plans for essential workers. 

Whilst the immediate impacts are very much to reduce public transport (which is at the core of MaaS) this may not be a long term impact. 

There will be direct and indirect consequences of the crisis - at the same time as we are released to travel, the economic impact may well be being felt. People - many of whom have barely used their cars for months - may well look to shed the costs of car ownership as they feel the pinch. It’s hard to predict at present but this may well play out as increasing demand for forms of MaaS, smart transport and new mobility.

Disruption is the mother of transport behaviour change. Not only must we not assume that we will pick up where we left off, but we must also actively work to shape the new behaviours which will form in future.

Having read the full article, there are many people trying to ensure the future is shaped so that it doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

Here in Calderdale I’ve set up a volunteer e-cargobike delivery service. More about this later.

Interview for Skedgo's "Women in Maas" series

I was interviewed by mobility service provider Skedgo as part of their regular series “Women in MaaS”. I spoke about the need for open data in MaaS, its relationship with existing public transport, and how it can be introduced in rural areas.

Read the full interview here.