I hope that, the amendment aside, which seems only to be adding to the basic motion, we will find some cross-party consensus on this. Time and time again the quality, or lack thereof, of bus services in Bristol is raised as one of the major problems by our residents and when Gary Hopkins circulated earlier the Bus Passenger Survey results, well surprise surprise to see First at the bottom of the league tables! Their excuse for the poor quality of services in Bristol is always going to be that the operating conditions aren't right, and while the council can't directly control the services, we can try and improve those operating conditions, and thanks to the investment that's gone in this has happened. Yet the passengers aren't seeing the benefits of that work. First's fares remain stubbornly high, their services remain unreliable. Poor old Peter Abraham can't get home in the evening so I gather! In fact that's probably where he's gone! So we need to send a message to First, and as a private company I suspect the only message that they're going to understand is one that affects their shareholders. Giving passengers a choice in Bristol means that they will vote with their feet and they will go to other operators if those operators offer a better service at a lower price. And hopefully that will send a message to First that they can't continue to run a shoddy service and I hope therefore that council will support the motion.
You can find the webcast of the full meeting at www.bristol.gov.uk/webcast. The debate on buses starts at 3hrs, 56mins, 32secs (Or look for item 10b in the index points!)
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