Council votes to support Bus-re-regulation! - Mulgrew

10.49.12pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 1st Aug 2006

At a meeting of Rochdale Borough Council - Councillors voted to support:

a system of regulated bus services similar to the one operating in London, which will allow the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority to:

(a) Specify the routes, timetables and fares of bus services, emphasising the social, environmental and economic importance of bus services rather than the profit motive;

(b) Remove the wasteful 'on the road' competition which eats up resources better deployed on improving services;

(c) Operate a bus service 'of last resort' where commercial bus operators cannot or will not operate a service;

(d) Make sure public finance and subsidies are used in the most cost effective manner

Lib Dem Councillor - Dale Mulgrew, moved his motion to the Council on the occasion of his Maiden Speech. Dale said, "It is absolutely vital to get people out of their cars and onto public transport. In Rochdale, overwhelmingly the most popular mode of public transport is buses and it is important that we have a reliable service that residents can rely on. Unfortunately in the Borough of Rochdale this is clearly not the case and I gave the example of people missing vital appointments because of the unreliability of many bus services. I've got to admit that I was nervous speaking at my first Full Council Meeting. I will continue though to Raise the issues that matter to the public in Balderstone and Kirkholt.

The idea of being a Councillor is to raise issues of importance to the electorate, people in Rochdale tell me that the Bus Service is simply not good enough. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and snipe, not bothering to play a full role in one of the most important municipally meetings of the year - but that is not me. I was elected to speak up and that's what I was doing and shall continue to do. Bus Services in this Town are not up to scratch, certainly not compared to London, where they were able to opt out of the de-regulation of buses. The figures I used were there to back up our arguments and help Members come to an informed decision, based on real figures."

As a result of the Liberal Democrats raising this issue. Rochdale Council will now call on the Government to bring back a system of regulated bus services similar to the one operating in London, which will allow the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority to:

(a) Specify the routes, timetables and fares of bus services, emphasising the social, environmental and economic importance of bus services rather than the profit motive;

(b) Remove the wasteful 'on the road' competition which eats up resources better deployed on improving services;

(c) Operate a bus service 'of last resort' where commercial bus operators cannot or will not operate a service;

(d) Make sure public finance and subsidies are used in the most cost effective manner.