Bus fleet set to be put back into public hands

Plans to put West Midlands bus services back into public hands have been approved.

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is set to buy operator National Express's (NE) existing fleet of diesel and electric buses as part of a franchising system.

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker said franchising will return control over bus fares, timetables and routes back into the hands of the public.

The cost of the plan has not been disclosed, but it includes buying back NE's electric vehicles while potentially buying new buses to replace older diesel models.

A report to members of the WMCA Board confirmed that around a third of the NE stock is electric and the WMCA will take over that contract.

It said a number of diesel vehicles had not been replaced and were now older than expected.

However, in case of a shortfall of buses, WMCA said it would bring forward the purchase of new vehicles or get bus operators to provide their own on a short-term basis.

Last year, the combined authority agreed to press ahead with moving to a franchise model from the current, private operator-led one. A decision to purchase bus depots across the region has also been approved.

At the meeting on Friday, Parker said: "This is critical to the continuing work on franchising that we've approved previously at board.

"It is the right thing to do but we also need to do it the right way too."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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