Bus operators have been accused of holding Greater Manchester ‘to ransom’ by refusing to invest in modern vehicles while leaders decide whether to seize back control of Greater Manchester’s network.

Firms including First have said they are unable to buy new buses until they know whether the mayor of Greater Manchester will go ahead with a new franchised system, in which councils would collectively decide how routes are organised and run.

At Manchester council’s latest meeting, the leaders of both political groups agreed franchising - a model deeply unpopular with firms, which currently have most of the power over services - needed to be carried out ‘as soon as humanly possible’ in order to finally give the region a fit-for-purpose network.

Nevertheless, council leader Sir Richard Leese said the threat of court action from operators such as Stagecoach meant that every part of the process needed to be done ‘meticulously’.

He also warned that a local tax rise may be needed as soon as next May in order to pay for the reform.

Lib Dem leader John Leech urged leaders to get on with it, however, warning that in the meantime operators were refusing to replace ageing, dirty buses as a ‘deliberate ploy’ to put pressure on them.

“The trouble is that the uncertainty about if and when the franchising is going to happen is actually giving the bus companies now the opportunity to hold the combined authority to ransom,” he said.

“At the bus sub-committee of the TfGM committee only last week, some of the bus companies admitted that they are not investing in their fleet at the moment because of the issue of franchising.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

“It’s a deliberate ploy on the part of the bus companies. The mayor, the combined authority and the ten local authorities across Greater Manchester need to speaking with one voice on this, to introduce franchising as soon as humanly possible, because it will undoubtedly allow us to spend what is a relatively limited amount of money on improving bus services across a properly organised network of franchised services.”

The power to reform Greater Manchester’s de-regulated bus network - which has largely been controlled by individual commercial operators since the 1980s, leaving local leaders with only a limited degree of influence through a diminishing pot of public grants - was a major strand to the region’s devolution deal of 2014.

(Image: Daily Record)

Sir Richard said those powers were not ‘unconditional’, however, adding that a range of regulations that were supposed to underpin them have still not been published by government.

In order to move to a franchised model there are ‘a vast number of hoops that have to be jumped through’, he said, warning that if process was not carried out correctly firms such as Stagecoach would launch a judicial review ‘at the drop of a hat’.

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But while the mayor himself cannot at this stage declare a preference for what sort of model he would like to see, as that could itself result in a legal challenge from operators, Sir Richard said he was very clear in his own mind about what should happen.

“I have to say I’m not the mayor, so I can make assumptions about what I want to see,” he said.

“And as far as I’m concerned - and as far as the Labour group on the council are concerned - the ability to have a regulated, integrated public transport network was probably the single most important thing around the devolution deal and I certainly intend to make sure, as the representative on the combined authority, that’s exactly what we will get through franchising.”

He said he agreed with Coun Leech that this needed to happen ‘as soon as humanly possible’ but also pointed out that a newly franchised system would inevitably require more public subsidy, adding that this could mean a mayoral tax rise as soon as next year.

“At some point, possibly next May, we are going to have to face that if you want to have that sort of bus services, there will have to be an increase in the precept to pay for it,” he said.

Documents seen by the M.E.N. show that in private meetings with council chiefs, First have reiterated that they will not be investing in new buses while uncertainty continues about whether to go ahead with a full franchised model, or to enter into a partnership arrangement with operators, as has happened in some other parts of the country.

A minute from one meeting with Salford council bosses at the end of June says: “There will be no investment in the GM fleet this year as a result of uncertainly [sic] around bus reform.

“Other operators are following a similar line.”

A spokesperson for OneBus, which represents 18 different operators across Greater Manchester, said: “OneBus members have invested hundreds of millions of pounds in new vehicles in the past 10 years and we are continuing to invest in improvements for customers. The accusation that any council is ‘being held to ransom’ is unhelpful and categorically untrue.

“It is vital that the future of the transport network across our city region is shaped through positive informed dialogue between all interested parties in order to deliver a genuinely world-class service for passengers.

“A positive partnership between the Mayor and the region’s bus operators would deliver a winning package of improvements: one network, with a simple fares and ticketing system, which puts customers first and offers good value for both passengers and public investment.

“Manchester’s bus operators have proactively presented the Mayor with a package of benefits which could be delivered from 2019, far quicker than under any alternative franchise approach.”