I learnt a lot attending the UK Bus Summit in Liverpool.
Andrew Gibbons, Head of Buses at Leicester City Council, argued that there has never been a better time to be involved with buses services over the last forty years. It's certainly a time of change and opportunity.
One such change is the growing interest in franchising. Councillor Steve Foulkes, Transport Committee Chair at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, celebrated the first week of Liverpool's new franchised bus system. Katharine Hammond, Chief Executive of South Yorkshire Combined Authority, announced that South Yorkshire's own franchised buses would 'go live' in a year.
Franchising is a complex process, with a range of operational challenges. Participants at the summit pointed out that its success will be judged by passengers in terms of accessibility, reliability, safety and affordability.
One way to put passengers 'front and centre' of the complex franchising process is through the lens of equality.
Local transport authorities and mayoral combined authorities are subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). The PSED requires public authorities to think about how they can promote equality in the services they provide and give real consideration to the requirements of passengers, based on their 'protected characteristics'.
These are characteristics we all have that can shape us and our experiences as individuals: our sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, whether we are pregnant and so on. Service providers such as bus operating companies must anticipate any reasonable adjustments that may be needed for disabled passengers who may encounter disadvantages compared with passengers who are not
disabled, and take action to address them. Working out how to keep passengers in focus is a challenge, but it can be done through this equality lens.
Having accurate information about passengers is the strongest starting point for this. Data was a recurring theme at the summit. Information on passengers and how they use services is improving.
For example, new tap in/ tap off ticket technology means that we know when someone boards, where they board, and whether they are disabled, younger or older. We know where people get on and hopefully where they get off. This data will still need to be complemented with direct conversations with passengers, local communities and representative groups to understand and apply learning. And a meaningful analysis of complaints data too, because no system is ever perfect.
There are several questions about equality data that authorities and operators can keep in mind when exploring franchising to maximise the value of their service.
To give some ideas:
- What are your priorities for equality? What do you know about the challenges experienced by people sharing protected characteristics when they try to use buses? How can these priorities for equality be factored into your work, such as in the business case?
- What data do you need to achieve those priority goals? How can current data collection systems enable analysis through an equality lens? For example, think about concessionary pass data, audit data, complaints and feedback data, and routes for engagement with the local population to identify unmet needs.
- How can you work together to gather, analyse and use that data? What is within the remit and expertise of the authority, and what is within the remit and expertise of the operator?
- What data sharing requirements could be put into a contract to enable monitoring of equality impacts and continuous improvement? Our guiding principles for accessible transport can help you think about how you can maximise the value of franchising via the contract.
Nigel Featham, Managing Director of Go North West which runs routes in the Bee Network, dealt with the myth that franchising means the authority is in control and the operator simply does what it is told. In fact, he stressed, in a franchised system, the operator's experience becomes even more important. The relationship between the authority and operators working under the franchise has to be a meaningful collaboration if bus services are going to get better for passengers.
There are parallels between this view and the EHRC's principles of human rights in business. These principles involve governments and companies working together to ensure that business respects human rights, such as treating customers with dignity and ensuring safe working conditions for staff. Effective collaboration can support this approach in the bus sector.
Franchising can deliver for people with an equality lens providing a focus on real life experience. Not just legal obligations, but a way to understand how to improve bus services for the people already waiting at the bus stop, as well as those potential customers without the confidence to use the service yet.
