COMMENT
Expect to hear a lot about the potential benefits of franchising as the Bus Services Act provides England’s city regions and elected mayors with extra tools to exercise more control over their public transport. The Urban Transport Group — formerly PTEG, the passenger transport executives’ lobbying organisation — has published a detailed study it commissioned from Edinburgh Napier University and others into public transport provision in the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
‘The report shows that franchising is the norm for bus services in Scandinavia and has been instrumental to the delivery of integrated, high quality and successful bus services in an efficient way,’ says UTG chair Tobyn Hughes, who also is managing director of Tyne & Wear PTE Nexus and a keen proponent of franchising.
‘The UK has embraced all things Scandi in recent years – from Scandi Noir to Ikea – perhaps it is also time we embraced their approach to transport,’ he adds.
The report presents a picture of comprehensive urban bus networks with good frequencies at weekends, evenings and often well into the smallest hours of the night; of feeder routes as well as trunk lines; and attractively priced mult…
