As the author and sole proprietor of the seventy-fifth least boring blog about UK Conservative politics (and incidentally, hello to all my new readers from Jamaica, Pakistan, Mozambique and Korea looking for O-Level past papers) I do what I can to understand local legislation, since if I can understand it I hope to be able to explain which bits could be done rather better.

However, Public transportation - specifically the topic of Buses - gives me a migraine. This post is not an analysis piece, but rather just a collection of links and stats which I may come back to at a later date. I'm numbering the paragraphs to help with tracking. If you spot an error, feel free to chip in in the comments.

Who runs the buses?

  1. Back in the days of the Bristol Omnibus Company (or Bristol Tramways), the ultimate owner and operator was the Corporation of Bristol
  2. Subsequent to the deregulation of Bus Services in the eighties, the bit of the old BOC servicing the city (as opposed to the county) was bought by First Group.
  3. First Group have a de facto monopoly on urban bus services in Bristol. The reasons why competitors do not seek entry into this market are...unclear.

Who pays for the buses?

  1. First Bus obtain the majority of their income from fares.
  2. Some capital projects are directly funded from local taxation. For example, the Real Time Information System installed in buses (Half a million quid).
  3. Many alterations to the road network are funded from local and central taxation or through S.106 agreements.
  4. Update: The Brislington Blogger (with no blog) has found this link to a meeting of the Physical Scrutiny Committee of the City of Bristol at which First Group report that they also receive a "concessionary income" of approximately £10million from the four Greater Bristol local authorities, associated with the provision of fares to pensioners, children and other concessionary travellers.
  5. And I wrote an old post which put the annual subsidy to First Bus at £9,000,000

Who owns the buses?

  1. First Group own the vehicles, albeit some fitted equipment such at the RTIS is council property.

Who is accountable for the buses?

  1. Currently the Council of the City of Bristol has no statutory duty to provide bus services. (or at least I can't find one)
  2. The Council does enter into agreements with First Group in relation to the performance of Bus Services, such as a Bus Punctuality Improvement Partnership (BusPIP).
  3. The Council does enter into agreements with other local authorities - some of which do have statutory duties to provide public transport - in regional initiatives such as the Joint Local Transport Plan and the Greater Bristol Bus Network.
  4. The Department for Transport (DfT), specifically the Traffic Commissioner for the Western Area, is the regulator with responsibility for the registration of local bus services. They have some powers under Section 6 of the Transport Act 1985 to take action against operators who fail to run their services in accordance with the registered particulars.

A a quote from a DfT document entitled "Practice Direction: Standards For Local Bus Services"

It should be the overriding aim of operators to run their registered services to their published times. Nevertheless it is accepted that traffic and other hazards, such as road works, can cause short-term problems, and Commissioners therefore accept that a bus may be delayed in these circumstances. But they can see no justification for a bus to run early.

Characterisation of First Group performance:

Statistics from 2005/06 (BusPIP)

  • 66.5% of Buses Starting Route on Time
  • 51.5% of Buses on time at intermediate timing points
  • 2.92 Minutes Average Excess Waiting Time on Frequent Services

Statistics from July 2008 (First Group)

  • Punctuality across the Bristol business for the period was 85.4%
  • Reliability performing at 98.6%

(Note - I've no idea what the calculation method is for any of these numbers)

Who is the Traffic Commissioner for the Western Traffic Area?

Sarah Bell became a Traffic Commissioner for the Western Traffic Area on 12 June 2007.

Sarah grew up on the south coast of Ireland and then returned to England to attended Weymouth Grammar School for ‘O’ Levels and Clayesmore School for ‘A’ levels. After a gap year working at Daimler Benz in Stuttgart she took a 2:1 in law and completed her Law Finals at what is now London Guildhall University.

She qualified as a solicitor with Moore Blatch in 1993 and, apart from a four year gap early in her career, she remained there until she took up her appointment as Traffic Commissioner.

Sarah was made a partner in Moore Blatch in May 2003. She headed up the marine department and co-headed the regulatory department. After starting with the firm as an articled clerk in 1991 she represented clients in the criminal courts on road traffic matters. Moore & Blatch are panel solicitors for the Road Haulage Association.

From 1999 onwards a large part of her practice involved representing the interests of haulage operators, their directors and drivers in the criminal courts, at Public Inquiry before Traffic Commissioners and the Transport Tribunal. Sarah has also prosecuted complex cases for the Health & Safety Executive during that period.

Sarah's other interests include all water sports, travel, Harley Davidsons. She also owns a horse and enjoys hacking in the New Forest.