Your say / metrobus
‘MetroBus failures are proof the mayoral system doesn’t work’
Bristol and the surrounding area has suffered for many years because of poor public transport.
Who can forget the two-tram system collapses when, firstly, there was an objection to a privately-funded scheme and then the fall out between Bristol and South Gloucestershire councils over the route on the next attempt.
One scheme between the four councils 10-15 years ago, the greater Bristol bus network, was delivered on time and on budget and achieved the limited ambition of making the arterial routes into Bristol more reliable for buses and more attractive for commuters to use.
is needed now More than ever
There was a 40 per cent increase in people commuting by bus.The scheme also reduced costs for operators, but unfortunately, the failure to bring in a franchise system meant that more of the extra profits were not used to improve services generally.
On the back of that success, the Department of Transport gained more trust in the west of England and agreed a few years back to pump one-third of its national budget into the bus rapid transit scheme. The Government by this time was losing confidence in trams and was prepared only to fund guided buses.
It is worth noting that the guided bus schemes elsewhere have done well, despite some overruns in construction costs.
Bristol used to have a tram system. Photo from Bristol Archives
There was from the start unhappiness that we were not getting a tram, but when in 2010 I tried to persuade Government that we could switch to an ultra light rail scheme (not a heavy tram), they refused saying that we would have to join the back of the queue if that was what we wanted. In fact, there would have been no queue as central funding was turned off.
Well in 2011/12 the scheme was handed across to the new mayor . He had originally pledged to scrap the scheme to the electors but revised that later after lobbying from business to a review.
In fact, he changed the route to one that was less attractive to operators. This caused a row with North Somerset, an enquiry from government delays and a huge increase in costs. This was particularly concerning as, although the Government was picking up the vast bulk of the original cost estimates, the overruns were down to us locally.
As the cost spiralled, important features were cut from the scheme so that the mayor could pretend that his interventions had not cost the earth.
There was far more concentration on image control rather than delivery and the delays kept mounting. The new mayor was not a fan of the system and was certainly not prepared to spend more money to catch up any time.
So, we have seen month after month of construction sites with little to no work happening and – three years after the scheme would have been making a contribution to reducing congestion – it is still causing extra problems.
A year ago, the Bristol mayor was joined by the WECA mayor. The result so far: more expense, more delays and straightforward lies about lines that were promised to the public and government when they gave the money having been only aspirations.
Some of the lines on the original MetroBus map are now missing from it
We still do not have integrated ticketing and no franchising as happens in London, despite powers being devolved to allow these.
Some of the excuses for delays have been priceless and instead of fighting off competing operators, the sheer incompetence has led back to First Bus telling the council what they will run and at what price.
If ever there was any more reasons needed to prove that the mayor system does not work the latest revelations on MetroBus provide them all. You could not make it up.
Gary Hopkins is a Liberal Democrat councillor for Knowle
Read more: Social enterprise to run Bristol’s major new MetroBus route
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