Privatisation and austerity have decimated Britain’s bus routes. The Manchester mayor is right to intervene
In 1986, the same year that Maradona’s Hand of God broke English hearts, Margaret Thatcher broke Britain’s buses. Her 1985 Transport Act, which came into force in October the following year, privatised Britain’s bus services and deregulated them everywhere except London. Thirty-five years on, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has, perhaps, struck back, announcing his plans to re-regulate the city’s bus service.
Since 1986, the number of passenger bus journeys made in Britain has declined by 1bn, to 4.5bn in 2019-20. But these overall figures mask a tale of two cities: London, and everywhere else. While passenger journeys have declined by 53% in English cities since the Transport Act came into force, London passenger journeys have increased by 99%. A combination of privatisation, deregulation and austerity have created bus deserts in many parts of the country. Oxfordshire county council cut all bus subsidies in 2016, ending 54 bus routes entirely. It’s not the only one: Stockton on Tees, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Cumbria, Isle of Wight, Swindon and Stoke on Trent all no longer subsidise bus services. Today, nearly half of all bus journeys in England are made in London.
