Quality Bus Conference 2024

My introductory remarks for the Quality Bus Conference, 23-24 September 2024

Professor Glenn Lyons, President of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation

My opening remarks are comprised of three elements: (i) why I’m wearing jeans and a heavy metal t-shirt; (ii) CIHT’s contribution to this conference’s agenda; and (iii) some thoughts on the outlook for Government bus policy.

Heavy metal t-shirt

So – to the outfit. This is really my stage prop for the theme of my presdential year which is about being ‘authentically sustainable, inclusive and professional’. I’m very proud of our Institution’s three core themes which are: climate action; equality, diversity and inclusion; and professionalism. These are all important to me personally.

As reflected in the often-observed ‘policy-action gap’, walking the walk is not always in line with talking the talk. This is where authenticity comes in. My authentic self is – amongst other things – being a life-long metalhead. I’m proud of it. The music and metal community invigorate me, and envelope me with a sense of support and confidence. So, I’m wearing my preferred attire to events where I am permitted to by the organisers.

Walking the walk on climate action is to expect the need for profound change in society – uncomfortable change because business as usual is untenable. Or perhaps business attire as usual?! If you are uncomfortable (or excited) about my looking like this, well I encourage you to entertain the need for discomfort and excitement if we are to see the sort of transformative change in the bus sector we look to the new Government to play a part in bringing about.

In passing, I’ll also take the liberty of noting, chair, that our panel here has sailed very closely indeed towards being a manel, and a white one at that. My commitment as CIHT President is, where possible, to avoid being on panels that are not diverse. So I do look forward to some diversity in our exchange of views at least! And a shout-out to Women in Bus and Coach and the amazing Kerri Cheek (shown with Alix Edwards, left, below).

CIHT and the Bus Centre of Excellence

Let me now move on to some words about CIHT. We are delighted to have the UK’s Bus Centre of Excellence as part of CIHT, with funding from the Department for Transport. In our recently published transport manifesto we said the following:

“We need to be able to turn political ideas and ambitions into practical action. This requires more qualified, experienced and expert transport professionals ready to work in partnership with decisionmakers.”

The Bus Centre of Excellence plays its part in this – contributing to bridging the policy-action gap, including addressing the need for new talent and diversity and for new skills. BCoE is a convening forum, a place for sharing and acquiring knowledge. It is also about helping celebrate success. Under the leadership of Stelios Rodoulis , we are creating bespoke courses like the bus scheduling and driver rostering course and one for newbies to the industry called ‘Introduction to Buses’. There is the recently launched Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK) Certificate in Bus Service Commissioning and Operations (BSCO), which BCoE is promoting and encouraging every local authority to take up their free place for.

One of the strategic objectives in our CIHT Manifesto is ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to travel safely and feel safe. It is fitting therefore that, on 28 November this year in London, BCoE will be hosting a conference on Anti Social Behaviour on buses and violence against women and girls.

Government bus policy

And now to some thoughts on the outlook for Government Bus Policy. I want to start with a quote from a key national policy document:

“[t]he bus can offer an almost universal form of public transport: flexible, adaptable, straightforward, able to meet a wide range of transport needs. It can offer choice, both as an alternative to the car, and as an opportunity for those who do not have a car.”

I wonder if you recognise where that is from? The promotional text for this event refers to buses having “the potential to be the workhorses of the public transport network”. There’s your clue, because the quote is from a 1999 publication by the last Labour Government, called “From workhorse to thoroughbred: a better role for bus travel”.

A news article from 1999 offered me a reminder of the eight key points in that document:

(1)???? a new framework for local authority transport policies in the form of local transport plans;

(2)???? strengthening of voluntary partnerships between local authorities and bus operators;

(3)???? more power to the Traffic Commissioners to end the deregulation ‘free for all’;

(4)???? better bus information;

(5)???? more joint ticketing;

(6)???? minimum standards for concessionary fares;

(7)???? service frequency enhancements where deemed necessary; and

(8)???? ‘Quality Contracts’ for area-wide networks (giving local authorities the option of planning and controlling bus services by granting exclusive contracts to operators).

Well, over the last quarter of a century (longer than perhaps John Prescott had hoped for) some of this or the sentiment behind it has come to pass. Information provision for transport services has certainly moved on. We have local transport plans – though we’ve been waiting for the new guidance for some time now. We have had a national concessionary travel scheme in England since 2008. And now the Bee Network could be a sign of things to come in terms of bus franchising to support public policy and service to the public.

However, over that last quarter of a century, “journeys taken on buses outside London continued their long-term decline”:?

Chart 3: Passenger journeys by mode: Great Britain from the financial year ending 1986 to the financial year ending 2021

Bus as a mode continues in many places to fight for its existence in what we academics have called the automobility regime – a way of the world centred upon the motor car as a means of access to people, employment, goods, services and opportunities.

So what has changed since 1999? Here are six things.

1 - The digital age has well and truly collided and merged with the motor age. In 1999 I had a 56k modem at home. Most people didn’t have internet access. Now nearly everyone has. And it has its pedal to the metal – gigabit broadband offers most people possible download rates 19,000 times faster than that modem! And the digital services we have access to have grown accordingly. We have connectivity in the palms of our hands and expect answers to pretty much everything – and typically get it – where and when we want it – including bus times.

2 - Technological hype in the transport sector has been enduringly seductive, boosted I expect now by AI. But has there been gold at the end of the rainbow as often promised or hoped for? Well, MaaS Global, the darling Mobility as a Service pioneer company in Finland filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. In my view MaaS is essentially the mobility system beyond the private car. Think of it as a hierarchy of need – at the base you need good mobility services people want and are able to use. Only then does the information layer above come into play. In turn a transactional layer above is relevant. And only then might you just find value in an ‘all in one app’ for access to your mobility needs. It’s quality bus services that are foundational.

3 - We are now much more wide awake to climate change and the need for decisive climate action which includes decarbonising transport at great pace. It is really the longer motorised journeys and aviation where the greatest emissions are coming from, but behaviour change in local travel also plays its part. And of course bus use has value in our local transport plans beyond support for decarbonisation.

4 - The COVID-19 pandemic caused society across the globe to tilt on its axis. Remote working exploded in terms of practice and popularity. Online retail leapt forward a decade, as did the use of online meetings. Meanwhile buses were (unfairly) vilified as possible hotspots for spreading of the virus.

5 - We have seen a faltering but determined move further into the spotlight of social inequality and the need to recognise, understand and respond to the diversity of the population’s makeup in terms of gender, ethnicity, mental and physical abilities and other important characteristics besides. If we want buses to support society rather than only serve a captive market then we need to think in more inclusive ways about what services people find attractive and can meet their needs.

6 - We face deep uncertainty about the future. This was epitomised by the shock of the pandemic but there are multiple social, technological, economic, environmental and political drivers of change that we don’t have a confident handle on.

Transforming the place of bus in society I would go as far as to say is a wicked problem. We will need to work exceptionally hard, creatively and bravely to manage positive moves forward. This comes from first zooming out to recognise that the future of buses finds its place inside the future of mobility which in turn finds its place inside the future of society, that is finally needing to come to terms with the future of the planet. Bus policy, investment and delivery must account for this.

With a new government sat on an enviable majority in the House of Commons, there has arguably never been an easier time to make very difficult decisions. But difficult decisions will need to be made if we want to see appreciable change. This is not just about bus policy. It is about a wider integrated transport policy in support of the Government’s mission-driven agenda. This includes the growing support in the transport sector for vision-led planning. But vision-led planning needs to not only know where we want to get to but how to get there in a way that can navigate the uncertainty and deliver outcomes. Scenario planning has an important part to play.

And when it comes to funding our bus sector dreams, how is this going to square with a car fleet that is going electric and providing its owners in many cases with very cheap point of use mobility and meanwhile choking off income to the Treasury from motorists? Road pricing anyone?

Dealing with wicked problems requires a co-operative approach that brings diverse perspectives together. Which, to conclude, returns me to the value of BCoE and the importance of embracing diversity in our professional approach. I saw a Fox News clip recently featuring a new book called ‘Go Woke, Go Broke’, reflective of the backlash against EDI in corporate America. My advice would be not to read it if you want the bus industry to thrive!

Postscript

A privilege to chair the Transport for Greater Manchester panel session involving Stephen Rhodes , Anne Marie Purcell , Alison Chew and Nick Fairclough where we were given insights from some of the team responsible for working the magic that is the emerging Bee Network in Manchester with bus franchising drawing upon the 2017 legislation.

And great to be on a panel to open the second day of the conference with Stephen Rhodes ?marking exactly one year since the Bee Network first began running bus services.

And a photo opportunity for two presidents with Leon Daniels OBE , President of CILT International - The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport International :

Always a pleasure of course to spend time with Sharon Kindleysides :