BUSES FOR SHEFFIELD

From a speech given to Council November 2018

I’d like to thank the Green Party for bringing this motion to Council as it gives me the opportunity to speak about the excellent bus services we have in Sheffield.

I’d like to remind Council that the Greens in Sheffield did not support the devolution deal, they were prepared to turn down the franchising powers and yet today they are calling for them. Once again, a warning to the people of Sheffield, the Greens cannot be trusted on any issue to have the same policy from one year to the next.

There is no doubt that across the country bus usage is in decline, caused in part by increased car use and subsidy reduction on routes, Councils across the Country have been put in an impossible situation since the 2010 Government started the cuts in funding and we all remember who was at the heart of that Government.

Under a Labour Government we would lift the ban on Local Authorities forming their own bus companies.

Require all new buses to meet the low emission requirements.

Ensure all new buses are equipped with Wi-Fi and install Wi-Fi on all existing buses.

Require all drivers and staff to complete approved disability training and awareness.

Ensure that all buses will have priority space for wheelchairs, I’m happy to say that due to lobbying from one of my disabled constituents that I am working with Jack Scott to ensure that on all Sheffield buses wheel chair users are given priority over other users.

In Sheffield we have introduced 117 greener and low emission buses.

The cost of the day and weekly tickets is lower today than in 2015.

We are carrying out work on cross ticketing.

A new service has been introduced to carry workers to the Advanced Manufacturing Park from North Sheffield.

We are making progress on contactless payments on buses to speed up boarding.

We are planning a new express bus service to carry people quickly into and out of the City centre and we plan to link this service to existing and new park and ride car parks.

Our transport strategy sets out our vision for a City where we will no longer have a car first policy, we will have non-polluting vehicles offering people the right transport for the right journey.