Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is holding an additional bus franchising consultation. Changes to how buses would be brought under local control are proposed, in large part as a consequence of Mayor Paul Bristow’s decision to freeze the Mayoral precept (the portion of council tax the Mayor levies). The Travel Alliance urges you to respond to the consultation questionnaire calling for increased investment by the Combined Authority in buses and an expanded public transport network.
Unless the move to franchising is accompanied by increased investment in the bus network, at or exceeding the level originally proposed, the Combined Authority is highly unlikely to succeed in reversing recent cuts and bringing about the expanded, attractive, high-quality bus network our communities require. The Authority must investigate all possible options for increasing bus funding, then move quickly to bring in measures so investment can be increased before the bus funding gap increases, and services are cut. The transition to franchising and increased investment in public transport is all the more necessary as extensive growth is planned across the region. Investing in the bus network is critical to spread access to opportunities more equally and ensure the road network can accommodate the increase in journeys which growth will bring.
The Mayor’s decision to freeze the Mayoral Council Tax Precept has led to a significant change in the financial assumptions underlying the original franchising business case. The previously planned Mayoral Precept increase for an average Band D household from the current 10p/day to 16.5p/day by 2032 and 20p/day in 30 years time is much lower than the amount of Council Tax currently levied by the Police and Crime Commissioner (86p/day), and by the Fire Authority (25p/day). It is also lower (in some cases much lower) than many parish precepts: South Cambridgeshire’s parish precepts, for example, are currently as much as 53.5p/day (Great Shelford) with a South Cambridgeshire average of 26.5/day.
Cambridge Area Bus Users collaborated with Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance to produce a guide to the Combined Authority’s Bus Franchising Supplementary Consultation
The full guide can be found on the Travel Alliance website: Consultation guide – Don’t miss your chance to call for more investment in buses.
