Why Bus Franchising is Unnecessary, Costly and an Irrelevance when you have EBP

Why Bus Franchising is Unnecessary, Costly and an Irrelevance when you have EBP = Enhanced Bus Partnership

On the 'Today' programme on Radio 4 on 9 September 2025, Chief Executive of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, Graham Vidler said,

from 2:21:00 - 

GUEST, Graham Vidler:  "extra cost and extra risk with franchising."

NICK ROBINSON: Why extra cost and why extra risk?

VIDLER:  "Extra cost because you need to transition from the current de-regulated market into a franchise market.  You have all the contracts and the staff to change over, in some circumstances.  You might also need to buy the depots and the buses.  The risk comes both economically and politically because in most franchising arrangements it's the local authority takes the most revenue risk.  So if passenger numbers are not where they expect to be, they and their council taxpayers take the hit.  Equally, in circumstances where services are no longer viable, it is them that will be the sole person responsible for making that tough decision to cut or reduce the bus service." 

"Buses account for two-thirds of all public transport journeys."

"We published independent research last week that showed the benefit of investing in bus service.  Every pound government puts in reaps £4.55 in economic and social benefits so we think there is a very strong case in investing in the nation's favourite mode of public transport."

ROBINSON:  Is the demand really there?

VIDLER:  "Take Norfolk as an example, not normally seen as a hotbed of public transport, but what they've achieved over the last couple of years is a huge investment in extending services, cutting fares and giving buses more priority on the routes into Norwich bus station in particular.  The result of that is a 16% growth in passengers over the last year.  A really tremendous example, I think, of what can be done when local authorities, bus operators and central government work together and back Britain's buses."

FROM

https://www.cpt-uk.org/news/economic-impacts-of-bus/

"The research also confirms the value of public spending to improve bus services: Taking a selection of typical investments including alterations that give buses priority over other traffic on the roads, higher service frequencies, and lower fares, researchers calculate that every £1 of public funding spent on a typical package of measures can generate at least £4.55 in economic benefits, a figure that rises to over £5 for more targeted interventions such as bus priority measures."