1. Gloucestershire First Local Enterprise Partnership Logistics Group Meeting Thursday 6 December 2012

2. OUR NEXT DESTINATION In 2004, our founder and current Group Chief Executive, Brian Souter, suggested that there was at best 18 months of innovation left within the UK bus industry without serious infrastructure help from local authorities Those 8 years have elapsed and little has happened Our operation has to all intents and purposes now reached a plateau We can only go up another gear with the help of external partners such as GCC / SBC

3. WHY? Spiralling Fuel & Insurance Costs Road Works & Diversions Indiscriminate Parking Staff Recruitment Barrage of Unwelcome EU Legislation Lack of joined-up thinking in Land Use Planning Engineering Poor Passenger Behaviour Inadequate Concessionary Fares reimbursement Yet another review of Bus Service Operator’s Grant (BSOG) or Bus Passengers Tax Consider some of the external challenges we currently face:

4. FUEL & INSURANCE Our fuel costs have risen by 73% since May 2003 –The actual price we pay has almost doubled once the BSOG effect is removed Our insurance costs have risen by 59% since May 2003

5. ROAD WORKS & DIVERSIONS Seriously undermines punctuality Traffic gridlock from M5 closure 4 sets of road works along London Rd, Hucclecote Rd, at the junction between Seymour Rd and Bristol Rd, and near the Cross Hands Brockworth in Nov 2004 brought traffic chaos to Gloucester –Avoidable if discussions had taken place and careful consideration given to the timing Failure to negotiate Punctuality Partnerships with LA's

6. CAR PARK CHARGES Maintain realistic parking charges, at the very least in line with inflation Good public transport will never flourish where cheap parking is available Unhelpful Portas Report Problems with LA's in Gloucester and Swindon

7. INDISCRIMINATE PARKING Fully support decriminalisation Withdrew from Tredworth High St, Gloucester, in 2005 due to a failure to enforce double yellow lines Prevents access to bus stops

8. EU LEGISLATION Training Directive Drivers Hours & Working Time Directive Vehicle Specifications Lower emission requirements causing increasing fuel consumption Also National Employment legislation… Digital Tachographs Bus services over 50 kilometres Passenger Charter threat

9. LAND USE PLANNING Poorly negotiated Section 106 Grants – Tewkesbury, Cooper’s Edge and Kingsway Threat to Section 106 grants The new Swindon Bus Station Peripheral office development is unhelpful

10. CONCESSIONARY FARES Inadequate and worsening reimbursement from all schemes (except Scotland and Wales) Full buses not covering even their marginal cost of operation

11. BSOG (BUS SERVICE OPERATORS’ GRANT / FUEL DUTY REBATE) Buses and coaches pay the normal taxes on fuel Buses received an 82% rebate (less in Wales) Tax per bus passenger 8.7 pence per journey 20% reduction in April 2012 New DFT consultation Currently no tax for rail passengers Has led to severe reduction in rural and marginal services in some areas of the UK

12. BUT THE BIGGEST PROBLEM OF ALL? CONGESTION

13. IMPACT OF CONGESTION Consider Service 94 A recent analysis of stage-to- stage timings shows delay points between Lansdown Castle and Estcourt Road in either direction Journey times constant between 0900 and 1400 but: –Increase by up to 30% between 1500 and 1800 –Increase by over 50% between 0700 and 0900 Had to put 4 extra buses into Service 10 to maintain the timetable

14. AVERAGE WEEKDAY RUNNING TIMES

15. COST OF CONGESTION Timetables are constantly rewritten to combat congestion Service 94 timetables changed 3 times in 2005 for this reason alone and worsening In 2005, we also assigned 2 additional vehicles to Service 10 to combat congestion, costing us £250,000 per annum for no additional revenue Forest of Dean average running times increase by 20% during the peaks

16. HOW CAN LA's HELP DECONGEST OUR ROADS? Reorganise road space –Introduce further dedicated bus lanes –Selective vehicle detection at junctions and traffic lights –Cost? Primarily white paint! Control indiscriminate parking Speedier introduction of more park and ride sites CBC’s civic pride initiative has underlined the importance of bus penetration in Central areas Need for partnerships to be dynamic with an immediacy of response on both sides

17. WHAT CAN WE OFFER IN RETURN? If main roads used by buses are decongested, we can: –Run more frequent services more reliably –Peg fares for longer periods, all other things being equal –Commit to greater levels of investment, as quicker buses will attract more passengers and ultimately earn more –Innovate –Restrain or reduce ongoing subsidy requirements

18. “For every Local Authority that invests in bus priority measures to improve the operating environment, I will match that investment with new buses.” Brian Souter, Chief Executive

19. AND IF WE DON’T DECONGEST? Our punctuality and reliability will fall Journey times will lengthen in the peaks and the number of departure options will decrease Modal shift towards rather than away from cars Bus operators will have to focus solely upon routes where commercial success is guaranteed, and deregister marginal routes Bus fares will rise and service frequencies will reduce Councils would probably have to raise council tax to underwrite the increased number of non-commercial, socially-necessary services if they wish them to continue (they will not be allowed to)

20. PIPS The progress of our Punctuality Improvement Partnership has been anything but punctual: –Initial Stagecoach/GCC discussions Feb 05 –Template document issued to GCC March 05 –…but still no evidence of a signed agreement! –Swindon meetings held over 9 months ago and still waiting

21. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE BUSES IN THE UK AS A WHOLE?

22. HOW BUSES WORK IN THE UK Great Britain outside London: commercial networks (about 90% of buses); local authorities subsidise 10% of mileage where there is a social need not met by the commercial network London: 100% competitive tendering; all decisions on fares and frequencies taken by TfL Northern Ireland: 100% owned and operated by the state

23. QUALITY CONTRACTS Local authority takes over responsibility for designing and paying for the network Operators bid for contracts – local authority pays for what it specifies No link to key issue of highway management Risks for existing networks, investment plans and employees (and terms and conditions) Completely incompatible with the enterprise economy Certain death for SMEs

24. QUALITY PARTNERSHIPS Formal or informal agreement between operators and local authorities on how to improve bus service quality Quality Partnership Schemes allow local authorities to decide on standards for buses using new infrastructure (e.g. bus lanes) and can exclude buses that do not meet standards Quality Partnerships concentrate on issues important for passengers Need politically tough decisions about highway management

25. WHAT WORKS… Passenger growth when there is: –Strong local relationship between operators and local authorities –Willing operator who delivers consistent high quality and reliability –Willing local authority which delivers pro- bus policies such as priorities for bus users, car parking management –Buoyant local economy, including population stability/growth

26. THE SOLUTION FOR STAGECOACH WEST? What we desire are effective partnerships to keep our buses on the move These must be dynamic in nature, and promote an immediacy of response on both sides –There is an immediate perishability to our product –Cannot instantaneously turn off supply –Costs are incurred regardless

27. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT Competition Commission Investigation - Major operator Ticketing Schemes - Bus Station Charges Threat to BSOG (already reduced by 20%) and new unnecessary complicated way of paying it Planning System dismantled without a meaningful replacement Localism and the potential failure to ringfence funding LEP’s - Adjudication of “Major Scheme Bids” No votes in buses despite the fact that 67% of public transport journeys are made on them

28. CONCLUSION We are a non-political organisation with a passion for what we do and a determination to offer people a real alternative to the car We want to provide a bus network which is: –Frequent –Reliable –Cost-effective –Utilises the highest standard of vehicles

29. CONCLUSION We have made significant advances over the past 10 years but are still far from perfect We can only go to the next level with the support and co-operation of LA’s We face many external challenges, with traffic congestion in particular a real threat to our industry Working in partnership, we can: –Decongest the roads –Reap the benefits of PIPs and other occasional Government grants –Provide a public transport system we can all be proud of

30. ONE FINAL THOUGHT Confederation of Passenger Transport research shows that many of the most successful commercial centres benefit from a good public transport system This is because bus users travel more often and hence ultimately spend more than the one visit a week car user

31. LTB MAJOR SCHEME BID 2015 PUBLIC TRANSPORT SCHEMES PRIORITISATION 1) A40 Corridor: Cheltenham through to Arle Court 2) Tewkesbury Road Corridor in Cheltenham 3) Abbeymead – Metz Way, Gloucester 4) Walls Roundabout 5) Cole Avenue Junction Other Future Schemes 6) West of Severn Park and Ride 7) Brockworth public transport hub