WARRINGTON South MP Sarah Hall showcased Warrington’s Own Buses during a debate in parliament seeking to remove the ban on other local authorities launching their own municipal companies.
She spoke during the Bus Services Bill debate, highlighting the “fantastic” Warrington’s Own Buses as one of the few bus companies across the whole country that remains in public ownership.
The Bill will remove the ban on other local authorities launching their own municipal companies, paving the way for our public transport system to be run for the public good, not private profit.
The Government’s Bus Services Bill reached its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday, Monday.
If granted, it will lead to an overhaul of buses, such as by giving all local transport authorities new powers to run their own services.
Ms Hall said: “This Bill will restore, for the first time in decades, the power for local authorities across the country to create new, publicly owned municipal bus companies.
“When bus services are run in the public interest, they work better, and they work for everyone. In Warrington South, we already know the difference that that can make.
“Warrington’s Own Buses is a fantastic example of what a publicly owned bus company operated under a Labour-run administration can achieve.
“It is rolling out a fully electric fleet and continues to offer a flat fare of £2 for adults and £1 for under-22s.
“It provides free travel for care leavers and maintains essential services that the private sector would walk away from.
“It is a bus company run for the public good, not for private profit. It is locally managed and accountable to the people it serves.
“It delivers social value, environmental gains and a surplus back to the local authority.
“We must protect municipal bus companies that already serve their communities and give local authorities the freedom to use them as part of new franchising arrangements.
“I urge the minister to ensure that the Bill and its guidance reflect the principle that where public ownership works, as it does in Warrington, we back it and build on it.
“Because that is how we will reverse the long decline in our bus services under successive Conservative Governments, and start to deliver the modern, affordable, low-carbon transport system that our communities deserve.”
