With plans to reassert public, democratic control over bus networks, mayors and ministers are correcting an old unfairness
In 2024, Greater Manchester will reassert public, democratic control over its buses. The new, shortened timetable set out by mayor Andy Burnham following his re-election will make the combined authority, made up of Manchester and nine surrounding councils, the first area in the country to seize hold of powers passed into law in 2017. Private bus operators will, for the first time in decades, be required to do what they are told.
Bus regulation does not have the same ring as rail nationalisation – so long a rallying cry of the left. But what is happening in and around Manchester is not only expected to have a significant social and economic impact on the region, it will correct a longstanding unfairness. When Margaret Thatcher privatised buses in 1985, London (along with Northern Ireland) was offered special arrangements: in the capital, elected politicians remained in charge. While London bus operators are private companies as in most of the rest of the UK, the mayor tells them which routes to run.
