Consultation pushes bus franchising a step closer

Plans to franchise bus services in a county have moved a step closer after results of a public consultation came out largely in favour of the move.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) said there were "potential pathways for improving bus services for local communities" through a franchising model.

It said franchising would give the authority control over routes, frequency and fares, whereas an alternative "partnership solution" would give it less control.

At a meeting earlier, councillors recommended the authority's mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, goes ahead with the scheme.

Currently, bus services in the region are mainly run by private operators that have control over the routes, timetables, ticket options, fares and frequency of buses.

Under the proposed franchising model, the CPCA would gain control over these areas and private operators would no longer be able to independently decide to withdraw services.

Instead, operators would bid to run services under franchise contracts, with the CPCA overseeing the process and monitoring operations.

The consultation took place between 14 August and 20 November.

A report put before the CPCA's transport committee meeting on 24 January showed that 1,468 participants in the consultation provided an answer to whether they supported or opposed the bus franchising proposals, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A total of 42% of responses strongly supported franchising, with a further 21% tending to support, meaning that 63% of participants were largely in favour of the new model.

The committee unanimously voted to recommend that the mayor chooses franchising and he is due to make a final decision early next month.

Dr Johnson said: "I think, long term, it's going to be so important that we get this right for the whole of our populations across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough."

According to a combined authority report, the total operational costs for franchising would be £9.65m.

The franchising option would require the combined authority to acquire bus depots.

The capital costs of depots in the outline business case is £31m, funded by a £5m non-ringfenced capital grant, £4m of ringfenced capital and £22m of borrowing.

The authority said a number of factors would be taken into account ahead of any approved proposed franchising scheme, including investigating the benefits of longer mobilisation periods for some contracts, where this would support greater competition, and allow operators time to prepare franchising tenders.

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