Campaigners urge Halifax people to join them in call for public to take control of bus services

Better Buses for West Yorkshire campaigners greeted councillors arriving for the most recent full council meeting of Calderdale Council.

They held up giant letters to spell out the message “Regulate for Restored Routes".

This refers to re-regulation of services. Currently, bus companies have powers over routes, fares, and standards but re-regulation means they operate under contract to the mayor of West Yorkshire.

A decision on re-regulation is due early next year and the campaigners are urging people to take part in a consultation, which runs until January 7. Details of this are available at West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s website.

Better Buses campaigner Matthew Topham said: “The mayor has had a report come back saying public control is the best thing for West Yorkshire.

“But the Government says if you want to go for public control of the buses, you’ve got to get a vote of confidence from the public via a public consultation.

“What you will get from public control is better routes, fewer cuts and being able to grow the network.”

Coun Colin Hutchinson (Lab, Skircoat) said people had lost confidence in bus services to get them to work or education on time, affecting some people’s employment.

Re-regulation would address this although it would take two to three years’ provision of reliable services for them to regain that confidence.

“It does require long-term, patient, investment,” he said.

Coun Hutchinson said local authorities would also be able to keep up the “fare box” component – limiting fare prices – as an incentive to build up passenger numbers.

Cabinet member for Climate Action, Transport and Housing, Coun Scott Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot) said franchising would transform the service, creating a bus service “fit for the future.”

He said: “That means ticketing, routes and cleaner, greener vehicles.

“We have to put passengers before profit.

“This is why we support the Better Buses for West Yorkshire campaign for all public transport users across Calderdale.”

Councillors from all political parties have expressed concern at loss of some bus services, and others limited hours of operation, in recent months.