Major proposals to introduce a new bus franchise system for West Midlands passengers take a step closer

A proposal to introduce a new bus franchise model is set to move a step closer when members of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Board meet next week.

Auditors carried out an assessment of options and concluded moving from the current deregulated market to franchising would bring the most benefits for passengers and the network.

A report to board added franchising would bring greater benefits whether funding levels remained the same, increased or even decreased.

Board members are expected to endorse the audit assessment and proposed draft franchising scheme and move towards a public consultation which will run between January and March 2025.

WMCA currently provides an annual subsidy of around £50 million to private operators but this has failed to stop fare increases and service reduction.

Mayor Richard Parker set out his vision for reforming buses shortly after he was elected in May, saying franchising would give the public control over fares, routes and timetables.

If the model is implemented, bus operators will be able to bid for contracts to run services across the region. It will cost WMCA £22.5 million over three years to move from a deregulated network to a franchise.

The report said: “The Full Franchising Assessment has been prepared on thebasis that the budget available to support the delivery of bus services is the same in each scenario (i.e. whether franchising or commercially led).

“A key difference being that under franchising the Authority specifies the entirety of the network and standards, as opposed to currently in which it only has direct influence over the elements it is ‘topping-up’.

“So not only does the Full Franchising Assessment conclude that franchising enables more network to be delivered with the same amount of funding, if less funding were to be available in future years there would be a much greater range of actions the Authority could take to reduce the costs and minimise the impact of this.

“Similarly, if the Authority were to make more funding available, it could have greater confidence that this was being targeted towards achieving defined outcomes.

“Whilst the West Midlands has a long history of successful partnership working, the Assessment demonstrates that over the long-term Franchising will provide better value, which is important as the network becomes increasingly reliant on public funding support.”

It added: “The purpose of the consultation is to seek views on whether or not the proposed Franchising Scheme should be implemented and how the scheme is proposed to be designed.

“WMCA has undertaken some early pre-consultation engagement on this topic with the West Midlands Citizens’ Panel.

“This demonstrated there is a relatively low level of understanding about how buses operate at present and what ‘franchising’ means.

“Therefore, the consultation must be designed in such a way to raise awareness and understanding to enable informed opinions.”