At its Conference in Bournemouth, Liberal Democrats reaffirmed their commitment to give local people an greater say, and more control, of how local transport is run in their area. It includes abandoning the current government-mandated proposals to close ticket offices at railway stations at Hamstead and other local stations, as well as improving bus services as they are the easiest to introduce, improve and expand.

You can read the full motion passed at our Conference here.
Connecting Communities – Building a Transport Network Fit for the 21st Century

We need bus, train, and tram services that are run for the convenience of passengers, not the bus operators. The motion includes calls on the government to give local authorities greater powers and resources to franchise bus services and simplify the franchise application system, like the Bee Network in Manchester. This means that the local community decides where buses go. It was an idea former LibDem Councillor in Walsall, Ian Shires, suggested to Andy Street when he was on the West Midlands Combined Authority, but the Mayor lacked the vision to explore this option. That refusal to consider more local control has meant Transport for West Midlands is still hostage to bus operators arbitrarily canceling routes like the 45 and 424 services. This is one of the reasons Greater Manchester has introduced its new Bee Network.

‘The Bee Network is a game changer’: A new era begins for Greater Manchester’s buses – with passengers in the driving seat

In the West Midlands, there is a danger that Labour-run Councils like Birmingham and Sandwell would try abuse any system, just look at the way both have misused SEND transport contracts, but a regional system for teh West Midlands should be able to prevent such abuse.