Policy instruments (2) - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 213

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London English met Rest of GB

Figure 13.1 Bus passenger journeys in London and other areas 1982-2005

- typically in new vehicles by operators and in passenger facilities and bus priority
traffic management measures by authorities. Joint investment in real-time information
systems is also becoming more common, with operators and authorities providing
on- and off-bus equipment respectively. To encourage a pro-active approach by local
authorities towards improving bus services the new system of Local Transport Plans
required statutory inclusion of a Bus Strategy under the Transport Act 2000. The Act
also included a number of clauses which attempted to remedy some incidental, but not
insignificant, adverse features of the 1985 Act regime (Box 13.1).
As a sop to the PTAs, the 2000 Act included powers for local authorities to propose
Quality Contracts (QCs) within a defined area where, unless a service was specifically
excluded, the normal registration arrangements would be replaced by comprehensive
service contracts specified by the local transport authority (i.e. similar to the London
model). However QCs were only to be contemplated as a last resort - where all other
means of achieving desired outcomes (e.g. via Quality Partnerships) had been shown to
be impracticable. This killer clause was accompanied by a very convoluted application
procedure ultimately requiring the approval of the Secretary of State - a combination
which resulted in no QCs actually being proposed.
The Act also contained clauses which enabled individual QPs to be made statutory.
This was intended to guard against the risk of 'free riders' but in practice this provision
has scarcely been used.
A more significant inhibitor to QPs was the fact that neither service levels nor fares
could be included in the agreements. This made many authorities reluctant to invest
in them, since there was no means of guaranteeing what the service outcome would
be. Some authorities also object in principle to the idea of taxpayers' money being
used as they see it to enable commercial operators to cream off extra profits (given
that they could be expected to invest in new vehicles anyway). The converse also
applies, i.e. that operators are only likely to commit investment in places which offer
the prospect of a good financial return. An added complication in the conurbations is
that the PTAs seeking to promote bus use are not highway authorities and therefore
cannot guarantee the participation of metropolitan councils necessary to deliver traffic
management measures.