Public Transport in Wiltshire – the ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’

Wiltshire Council published this plan apparently in October 2021, although I saw no reference to it in the local press, nor so far as I can tell has there been any effort at publicising it in other ways. It is apparently a response to a Government initiative to improve public transport called, believe it or not, Bus Back Better! Who would believe that the language of Milton, Shakespeare and Dickens could be so debased!

That aside, difficult though it is, I have difficulty in taking seriously any document which includes statements like these:

But public transport has seen a long-term decline in use, while congestion and pollution have increased significantly as private car use has increased. Bus Back Better is the first meaningful attempt from Government to address this issue, which can only be seen as positive.

Foreword, by Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste, Street Scene and Flooding at Wiltshire Council

This conveniently ignores the fact that coordination of bus and rail, integrated ticketing and strategic transport planning were all in place until the Transport Act 1985 which swept it all away. Ridership on integrated systems like that in Tyne and Wear, was seriously damaged.

During the 1985–86 financial year, the Tyne and Wear Metro carried a total of 59.1 million passengers – the highest figure it has ever achieved. By 1987–88, this had declined to 44.9 million. The decline was attributed to the loss of integration with bus services, following deregulation in 1986, as well as the general decline in public transport use in the area. Usage continued to decline during the 1990s, reaching its lowest level during 2000–01. Since the turn of the century, passenger usage has risen and stabilised, fluctuating in a range of 35–40 million passengers annually.

(Wikipedia)

Statements like that from Cllr McClelland are not encouraging – they make the document look, not like a policy statement, but a political one. Statements of public policy, coming from institutions like Wiltshire Council, should not be used to make political points.

I’m going to have a more detailed look at it in a later post, and the associated documents.

If you are keen, you can find everything here, in PDF or word processor formats.

https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/transport/bus-service-improvement-plan