Mayor refuses to raise taxes to franchise buses
BBCA regional mayor has once again refused calls to franchise bus services across his constituency.
Conservative Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said he would not "break promises" to local people by raising taxes to fund changing the region's bus network.
His comments were made after Middlesbrough Council passed a motion calling for an end to bus deregulation, which gives private companies the power to determine routes, timetables and fares.
Speaking at a council meeting, Labour's David Branson, who proposed the motion, said ending deregulation would "empower" the local authority and allow it to make changes which would "drive much needed improvements to services".
"People in Stainton and Thornton, on the west of the town, many of whom are elderly, have great problems getting to James Cook hospital, because there isn't a service there," he said.
Branson said bus services were a particular issue in south Middlesbrough, which had been described as a "transport desert".
His motion was supported by Liberal Democrat councillor Tom Livingstone, who said the town's bus services were "totally unacceptable and not fit for purpose at the moment", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
In February, Hartlepool Borough Council also wrote to the Tees Valley Combined Authority urging it to franchise services and introduce specific contracts to private firms to run routes.
At the time, Houchen rejected the idea and claimed it would be "gambling with taxpayers' money".
PA MediaResponding to Middlesbrough Council's call for franchised bus services, Houchen said a new system could see hundreds of millions handed to large companies and described it as "bureaucracy with a price tag".
"I remain open to new ideas, but only those that don't involve breaking promises to local people by raising their taxes," he said.
"No such alternative model has yet been provided."
The government recently confirmed Tees Valley would receive £1bn in transport funding but Houchen said the money could only be used for infrastructure investment, not for running services or subsidising fares.
But the Middlesbrough Mayor, Labour's Chris Cooke, said ending deregulation would save money in the long run.
"I think the price we worry about, the subsidy costs that may have to come and the cost of the franchising, will pale in significance to the costs we will pay time and time again as [the bus companies] know they have a monopoly over the entire service," he said.