Issue - meetings

On a motion from Councillor John Bull, seconded by Councillor Chris Dando, it was

RESOLVED (unanimously) that

This Council:

1.  Recognises that there is public dissatisfaction in B&NES resulting from the perceived lack of reliable, speedy and affordable buses linking residents with their work, educational and health facilities and venues for shopping and entertainment.

2.  Also regards it as essential that such services exist in order to reduce residents’ reliance on private vehicles with their accompanying pollution, congestion and road safety risks.

3.  Welcomes the opportunity under the Bus Services Act 2018 for mayoral Combined Authorities to implement a franchising scheme whereby the Authority identifies the requirements of its residents and then invites bus operators to bid to run the routes rather than the operators competing to offer routes which can often lead to either duplication and overlap or gaps in services.

4.  Calls on the Leader of the Council to write to the Chancellor to the Exchequer to ask for an offer of free bus travel to those under 25, to be funded out of vehicle excise duty.

5.  Calls on the WECA Mayor, in the light of recent bus service reductions in rural areas, to apply the necessary staff resources to completing the Bus Strategy as a matter of urgency and to carry out a high-level scoping study on a bus franchising scheme which incorporates conditions on operators including fare levels, frequency, reliability and vehicle accessibility.

[Notes;-

1.  The above resolution, deleting point 4 from the original Labour motion contained within the agenda papers, and adding the new point 4 above, was proposed by Councillor Mark Shelford, and accepted into the substantive by the mover and seconder of the motion.]