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3. BUS REGULATION
3.1 One of the main aims of the Scottish Government's bus policy is to improve the delivery of high quality sustainable services. In some cases, the policy is achieved through enforcement of the regulatory regime. At a strategic level, the Scottish Government is seeking to agree an over-arching protocol for the regulatory regime, and its enforcement, in partnership with the Scottish Traffic Commissioner and Vehicle and Operator Services Agency ( VOSA).
3.2 However, public transport authorities are encouraged to carefully consider where they might drive up the quality of services - for example, by:
- providing evidence of operators' non-compliance with registered standards. One role of the Traffic Commissioner is to ensure that bus companies operate their services in accordance with the details presented when the services were registered. To enforce these registration standards, the Traffic Commissioner must first gather evidence of non-compliance. Consequently, public transport authorities may wish to consider employing bus monitors to provide evidence of non-compliance within their areas;
- providing more effective enforcement of bus priorities. This could be achieved by decriminalising bus lane offences and allowing responsibility for enforcement to pass from the police to the public transport authorities. This could result in improved journey times, congestion relief and reduced emission levels;
- improving air quality through the introduction of Traffic Regulation Conditions ( TRCs); and by
- informing the Traffic Commissioner of the termination of any subsidised services on grounds of breach of contract by the operator.
3.3 Following deregulation of bus services in 1986, an operator may operate a service on a commercial basis provided the necessary service details (timetable, route description, start date) are registered with the Traffic Commissioner. All Public Service Vehicle Operators are required to give undertakings to the Traffic Commissioner to have proper arrangements for the operation of their licences, including vehicle maintenance. Proper vehicle maintenance serves road safety but also minimises delays due to vehicle breakdown. The Traffic Commissioner receives reports from VOSA and these are the main source of regulatory action against operators.
3.4 The Traffic Commissioner is empowered to take action against those bus operators that do not provide their services, or operate their vehicles, within the terms of their registrations or in accordance the conditions of their licenses. However, enhanced partnership working with the Traffic Commissioner and VOSA would aid this process and help address poor quality operators.
REGIONAL COMPLIANCE MONITORS
3.5 In making a decision to register a local service, the operator takes on the legal duty to operate the service according to the registered particulars. The importance of this for the bus traveller is that once registered, the bus service must operate both to route and to timetable. Any operator failing to operate compliantly may face regulatory action by the Traffic Commissioner.
3.6 Reliability, punctuality and predictability of bus services are the key performance indicators of the travelling public. They need to have confidence that buses will run to timetable. Traffic Commissioners permit operators tolerance by not penalising any running that is within the band of one minute early or five minutes late. Outwith that tolerance band, the operator has to show good reason as to why a bus did not run to its registered timetable.
Case Study: Bus Wardens In the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport ( SPT) area, 1% of public transport journeys are taken by ferry, 4% by subway and 18% by rail. The remaining 77% of public transport journeys are taken by bus. SPT took a decision to help raise bus quality through the employment of Bus Wardens to better ensure operator compliance with standards. This on-street team engage with bus operators and members of the public to ensure that bus services operating in the Paisley area are delivered in accordance with the published timetable, that they operate safely and in compliance with any legislative requirements and that accurate and legible route, service and operator details are clearly displayed. They also seek to ensure that bus operators abide by the licence conditions introduced under any applicable Traffic Regulation Condition, particularly with regard to excessive waiting at bus stops. SPT liaises with VOSA, Transport Scotland, the police and other agencies to maximise the effectiveness of interventions in support of the Traffic Commissioner where it is evident that there is regular non-compliance. The original focus of the team was Paisley, where they recorded 884 instances of buses sitting at bus stops longer than permitted, 160 instances of buses parking at bus stops (or other locations) within the area covered by a traffic regulation condition, and 135 instances of operators not displaying correct destination information. The scheme has now been extended to South Lanarkshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire. |
3.7 For the regulatory regime to serve the bus passenger effectively, the Traffic Commissioner requires evidence that operators are not operating services according to the particulars they registered. This evidence may come direct from the public (or their representatives) but a major source is bus compliance monitoring. Currently VOSA has six bus compliance monitors covering the whole of Scotland, four of which are funded by the Scottish Government. Evidence from public transport authorities has also allowed the Traffic Commissioner to take action against operators and is encouraged in the interests of raising the overall standards of bus services.
BUS PRIORITIES ENFORCEMENT
3.8 To be effective bus lanes and bus stops must only be used by authorised vehicles and be free of other traffic. Car parking and driving within bus lanes and bus stops are criminal offences. Effective enforcement of bus priorities in bus lanes and bus stops should increase the relative speed of bus travel and thus contribute to the three key strategic outcomes in the National Transport Strategy.
- Improved Journey Times and Connection
- Reduced Emissions
- Improved Quality, Accessibility and Affordability
Case Study: Bus Enhancement Measures Strathclyde Partnership for Transport ( SPT) has adopted a six-point Bus Action Plan with a number of its twelve constituent councils and is progressing discussions on its adoption with the others. The action plan includes SPT taking the lead role in: - regulation of bus compliance requirements;
- a survey of existing bus provision and identifying gaps in the market;
- optimum integrated bus provision;
- quality and punctuality improvement plans;
- bus service information enhancement; and
- dedicated transit police services on buses in order to protect revenue, monitor and intervene in locations and routes where vandalism and disorder is observed. SPT is to develop an Outcome Agreement with the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police in this regard.
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3.9 Therefore, public transport authorities and bus operators ought to consider the benefits of liaison with the police to improve enforcement of bus priorities. Where discussions with the police indicate that their wider enforcement and crime prevention roles preclude them from allocating the necessary resources to bus priority offences, and the scale of the problem suggests it, public transport authorities should consider the benefits of decriminalising bus lane and bus stop traffic offences. Under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, decriminalisation allows responsibility for enforcement of the regulations to pass from the police to local authorities.
TRAFFIC REGULATION CONDITIONS ON AIR POLLUTION
3.10 Although buses are by no means the only source of traffic pollution, a Traffic Regulation Condition ( TRC) does allow some regulation of the operation of local bus services under certain defined circumstances. The Traffic Commissioner licences public service vehicle operators and can attach conditions to these licences to prevent danger to road users, reduce traffic congestion and to reduce or limit noise or air pollution. To allow the Traffic Commissioner to consider a public transport authority proposal for use of a TRC in any specific area, supporting evidence for the measure may also need to be provided.
3.11 This guidance describes new powers that have been transferred to Scottish Ministers enabling the Traffic Commissioner to consider the use of TRCs in relation to emission standards for buses. This provides public transport authorities with a potential tool to address issues of poor air quality in their area.
3.12 An amendment to the Transport Act 1985 by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 allows any public transport authority to ask the Traffic Commissioner for the Scottish Traffic Area to attach a TRC to an operator's Public Service Vehicle licence for the purposes of reducing or limiting air pollution. The Public Service Vehicles (Traffic Regulation Conditions) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations ("the regulations") 2008 came into force on 31 January 2008.
3.13 The regulations do not specify how bus emissions should be regulated, but one possible method would be to specify the minimum Euro emission standard which vehicles affected by the TRC would have to meet.
3.14 Public transport authorities considering applying for a TRC establishing emission standards for buses might wish to discuss the matter with the Traffic Commissioner. The Traffic Commissioner will wish to be satisfied that any application is justified having regard to the negative impacts of reduced bus services for passengers in any area against the potential environmental benefits of reduced emissions from the affected buses.
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