• 2 months ago
Panorama 2020 E10
Transcript
00:00Tonight on Panorama, what's going on with Britain's buses?
00:07So I've been at the bus stop for 35 minutes for absolutely nothing,
00:13and I'm walking home.
00:17Thousands of services cut, fares on the rise,
00:20a system under pressure.
00:23If we carry on like this, nobody will use it.
00:25They can't use it. You can't rely on it.
00:29It's a waste of time. A waste of time.
00:34We travel to the communities where buses have disappeared.
00:39I feel as though we're being completely ignored,
00:41and we don't matter.
00:43And we do matter.
00:45Very much we matter.
00:48And with the commuters who rely on a troubled network.
00:53Welcome to my commute.
00:59BUSES
01:14Buses are still the most used form of public transport.
01:20But every year, the number of bus journeys we take,
01:23especially outside London, is dropping.
01:29So I'm going to test the network.
01:32Starting here in Redcar, in the north-east of England,
01:35I'm going to go across the country, coast to coast,
01:38to see just how reliable our local buses really are,
01:42and whether the service is still fit for purpose.
01:48The first people I meet are on the 63,
01:51along the Teesside coast and into Middlesbrough.
01:58We're doing a thing about buses.
02:00Is this a good bus, is it?
02:02No, it's not.
02:06The journey is about nine miles,
02:08takes about 20 minutes, and costs £6.50.
02:13What would it take to keep you on the buses?
02:15Reduce the fares, because every few months
02:18the fares are going up and up and up.
02:20What do you think the general view is of buses amongst your mates?
02:23I think the general view is that pensioners use them
02:26because they've got free bus passes.
02:28And, you know, they say it's a pensioner's service, you know.
02:33Well, the Prime Minister wants it to be a bit more than that.
02:38The government has announced it's spending £5 billion
02:42on the bus and cycle networks.
02:44Now, that's a lot of investment,
02:46but is it enough to get people back on the buses?
02:50This is Stillington,
02:53a village of about 1,300 people,
02:56six miles from Stockton-on-Tees.
03:02A minibus run by the council
03:05goes into town just four times a day.
03:08The first bus is at ten.
03:10With only 14 seats for the whole village,
03:13there's always a queue.
03:15Tell us about the bus service then for your village.
03:17It's rubbish.
03:20Cheers.
03:21Is it fit for purpose? Can you rely on it?
03:24Yeah, I think you can rely on it,
03:26but it's only for a couple of hours, isn't it, really?
03:28Yeah.
03:29The last bus back, it's half past one.
03:31Aye.
03:32That's no good for anybody, really.
03:34No.
03:35So now, where are you in the queue?
03:36Are you happy about where you are in the queue?
03:38Oh, yeah, I'm number nine.
03:39Number nine's all right, isn't it?
03:40Number nine's all right.
03:41Number nine's on.
03:42Number nine's on.
03:43Yeah.
03:44Still got a quarter of an hour in.
03:45Still got a quarter of an hour.
03:46Still got a quarter of an hour.
03:47So it's bad enough having to get here early in queue,
03:49but if you live down the road in the other villages...
03:51Yeah, yeah.
03:52..you've got no chance.
03:53Behind you, the board.
03:55Oi!
03:57The service finishes at lunchtime.
04:02It is a long way from the heyday of British buses.
04:07That's three, one in eight minutes, five miles.
04:10Since the 50s, people have been giving up the bus
04:13and getting in their cars.
04:16Those without cars use public transport.
04:19Then, in the 80s, privatisation
04:21effectively ended public ownership of Britain's buses.
04:26From next year, all you've got to do to run a bus service
04:30is satisfy the traffic commissioners that your buses are safe
04:33and you're on the road.
04:35Routes were opened up to competition.
04:37Hey, we're here for you
04:39Here comes the GM bus
04:41Picking you up like we always do
04:46For most of the country,
04:48this meant private operators were now in charge.
04:52Oh, we still got the bus
04:54Opponents of the bill are convinced
04:56that we'll see one route after another just disappearing.
05:00And some operators at the time
05:02were quite honest about what the changes meant.
05:05The great thing about the Transport Act,
05:07it has made it abundantly clear
05:09that our business is making money and not providing services.
05:13But over the years, lots of routes didn't prove to be so lucrative.
05:19Stillington lost its privately run regular service
05:23when the operator went out of business last year.
05:27It left locals, like 18-year-old Sinead, feeling trapped.
05:32We have quite a lot of young people in our village
05:35and they like to socialise and they can't do that as much
05:38with no bus, can't go downtown.
05:40A fifth of the village is under 18.
05:44It's pretty frustrating because I'm independent,
05:46my parents want me to be independent
05:48and I want to pay for my own driving lessons
05:51and I can't do that yet and that's why the bus is so important.
05:55It's also going to make it difficult for Sinead
05:58to travel to university in September.
06:00Would you want to live in a village
06:02without a bus service in the future?
06:04No, I wouldn't, it's not reliable at all.
06:06So you'd move away?
06:07Yeah, I would and I don't want to
06:09because it's a really nice village to live in
06:12but not having a bus route just ruins it.
06:20So I finally got on the 84th.
06:22The 10 o'clock was too busy so we let that go
06:25but this is the 12 o'clock and there's plenty of space.
06:28What Stillington shows you, though,
06:30is the state of the bus network in this country
06:33because if you live in Stillington
06:35and you don't have a car, then you are trapped.
06:38The network doesn't exist for you.
06:42BBC analysis shows that across the whole of Great Britain
06:46in the last decade, the distance travelled by buses
06:49has fallen 159 million miles.
06:53That's down 10%.
06:55The worst affected areas are the north-east and north-west of England
06:59and in Wales, where it's dropped by almost a fifth.
07:05For some communities, buses have almost gone.
07:13I've moved south into Yorkshire.
07:16From the market town of Thirsk, I'm waiting for my next bus,
07:20the 150, heading to the village of Helperby.
07:25Wow.
07:26This is a service that just runs twice a week.
07:29Tuesdays and Thursdays, that's your lot.
07:32Morning. Is this the 150 to Ripon?
07:34And Helperby? Great. I'll get on then.
07:40No private operators run a scheduled service,
07:44so it's another route run by the local council.
07:47They charge just a pound. It's a minimal service.
07:58He's looking for the bus stop. He doesn't know where it is.
08:05Found it.
08:06Customers. Good morning.
08:10I need someone to sit there and tell me where I'm going.
08:14Who are you telling?
08:16Because this is the first day I've done this.
08:18Oh, is it?
08:20How regularly does this bus come then into your village?
08:23Tuesdays and Thursdays.
08:25So you're pleased to see it?
08:26Yeah, because it didn't come Tuesday.
08:29What do you think about a twice-a-week service?
08:32So we can't get to hospitals, dentists?
08:35Yeah. So this is it?
08:37This is it, yeah.
08:39Bye-bye. Cheers, love. Bye.
08:42Councils can step in to subsidise private operators
08:46if they think a route should run,
08:48but since austerity, they have very little spare money.
08:53Their grant from central government
08:55has been reduced by 60% since 2010.
08:59More than half of local transport authorities in England
09:02have cut spending on buses by 50% or more.
09:10Judith Lawrence moved to Helperby in retirement.
09:14She is the reality of disappearing bus services.
09:18She hasn't left the village this year.
09:22Today's Tuesday, tomorrow's Wednesday, every day is the same.
09:25There's no way to spend a life.
09:27It's almost like a discrimination against the people in rural areas
09:31with low incomes who can't afford to take a taxi somewhere.
09:35There's no bus service. What do you do?
09:37Leave them at home. It's all right. They don't matter.
09:42Judith is one of nine million people in England
09:45who were given a free bus pass last year.
09:48But even when it's free, bus travel is falling.
09:52BBC Analysis has found journeys by older and disabled people
09:56outside London have fallen by a fifth in the last decade.
10:02So you've got a bus pass and no bus?
10:04I've got a bus pass and no bus. I'd happily pay half fare and have a bus.
10:09Happily.
10:10You've got a free pass to nothing.
10:12I've got a free pass to nowhere.
10:14Everybody who's driving now will probably reach a stage in their life
10:19where they cannot drive and they need public transport
10:22and there won't be any because we weren't able to save it.
10:26And we have to save it so that people in the future
10:29have the benefit of that service.
10:31You seem like you get very angry about it.
10:33I do. I think it's...
10:37I feel as though we're being completely ignored and we don't matter.
10:41And we do matter. Very much we matter.
10:53Here we are. This is the 36.
10:55Very high-tech. Departs in eight minutes.
10:57That's going to take us from here in Ripon
11:00to our next stop, which is Harrogate.
11:04Not all bus routes are dying.
11:07The main services between towns are thriving.
11:12How are you doing, anyway?
11:14A single to Harrogate, please.
11:17The 36 has leather seats, free Wi-Fi, an on-board library
11:22and double glazing so the windows don't mist up.
11:25This is designed to tempt people out of their cars
11:29and onto a double-decker.
11:32From Harrogate, all the stops it has right through until we get to Leeds.
11:37It is marvellous. And they're every 10 minutes. Wonderful.
11:41Harrogate is not a town you'd readily associate with strong bus use,
11:45but by giving people what they want,
11:47in terms of a high specification of interior, high frequency
11:51and basically creating a bus that they're proud to be seen on,
11:55people use it and it's popular.
11:57It's not cheap, though, is it?
11:59Obviously, to put a high-specification service on,
12:01we think the price is quite justified.
12:03We think it's justified compared to the cost of parking in Leeds
12:06and the cost of the bus.
12:08But for private operators,
12:10there are areas where running a service just isn't financially viable.
12:15I suppose you find in certain places
12:17that these places have become so car-dependent,
12:20it's very difficult to separate people from their cars
12:22and the volumes of people aren't there to justify running
12:25something that has 50 seats on board.
12:30And the more cars there are, the more pollution.
12:33If the UK is to meet its net zero carbon target by 2050,
12:38that has to change.
12:44The number 36 terminates in Leeds,
12:47which has some of the most congested roads in the UK.
12:51Now, getting more people on buses
12:53would help ease congestion and reduce carbon emissions.
12:57That means people would be more likely to travel by bus
13:02That means people like Marty and Declan need to trust them.
13:09Live timetable, then, bud.
13:11Is it right, though? Yeah. 48 minutes, it's June.
13:14Don't yawn. Don't yawn. You're making me yawn. It's too early.
13:18Each morning, the two brothers make the journey
13:21from their home in Farnley, on the edge of Leeds,
13:24to the city centre and then on to Bradford.
13:27Ooh, early dawns, bud.
13:29Four minutes.
13:37Can I get two West Yorkshire Riders, please?
13:40£10.40 for me and him.
13:43It's 50 quid between us at the end of the week.
13:46Some weeks, it can be more, so if we miss the bus,
13:49we'll have to get a taxi or whatever.
13:51City centre congestion doesn't just mean pollution, it means delays.
13:56Marty and Declan kept a diary of their daily commute
13:59and the issues they face.
14:01I'd been stood at the board waiting for 15 minutes,
14:04the bus never turned up, skipped.
14:06So I thought, all right, there's another one during 20 minutes,
14:09I'll wait. Waited for 20 minutes, that skipped,
14:11and now it's got another 40 minutes to wait at the bus stop.
14:14So I've been at the bus stop for 35 minutes for absolutely nothing
14:18and now I'm walking home.
14:20It's currently 17.29.
14:23The traffic is absolutely chaos.
14:25This road that we're travelling down often takes about 10, 15, 20 minutes
14:29just to get down and work on its own.
14:32A key point here as well to mention is the bus stop.
14:36If you were just here and you didn't have the live track on your phone
14:39or anything like that and you were lying on the timetable,
14:42you haven't got one.
14:43We rely on the service.
14:44If you haven't got that service, we've got no way to get into work
14:47or so on, so on.
14:49They seem to be getting less reliable as time goes along.
14:51I'll have you stood there for a while for not turning up.
14:54Is that right? You can't rely on them? No.
14:57The brothers are fed up with the buses.
15:00The city might want them to use public transport,
15:03but they want to drive.
15:05Why do you use the bus?
15:07We haven't got our licence.
15:09We're going fast on a van, so as soon as we can afford it,
15:12we'll get the van, it'll help us with work,
15:14and then we can nap the buses off.
15:15The best day of my life is when I get my licence
15:17and I don't have to stand to get on one of them again.
15:19Is that right? Yep, that's damn right.
15:22Regulation still exists on punctuality.
15:26Companies can be fined if too many buses don't run on time.
15:31But Panorama has found that in the last five years
15:34just 40 penalties have been issued
15:37across more than 20,000 bus routes in Britain.
15:47On my journey coast to coast, I'm about halfway
15:50and what I've found is a service that seems like it's in trouble.
15:55Cost and reliability, they're big issues,
15:57but the one I keep hearing is services that are being reduced
16:01or even just disappearing.
16:03Now, I'm on my way to Todmorden,
16:05which is on the Lancashire-Yorkshire border,
16:07and here people say the cuts are affecting the whole community.
16:15There's a meeting in the town's church.
16:18It's packed.
16:19In recent weeks, the service to Burnley has been halved
16:23from half-hourly to hourly.
16:25There are a lot of angry people.
16:28This is the chance for them to confront the council
16:31and the bus company.
16:34I witness buses that are up to 40 minutes late,
16:37leaving me and my two-year-old son
16:39in the fantastic weather that we've been experiencing.
16:42I have an elderly relative in a care home nearby.
16:46The staff work very hard for low wages.
16:48They work 12-hour shifts.
16:50These are the people that look after our loved ones.
16:53They run to catch that bus, they miss it,
16:55and they stood there for an hour at night in the cold.
16:58It's disgraceful.
17:00The trouble is the council has no money for extra services
17:05and commercial bus operators need to make profit to survive.
17:10I've travelled across the country
17:12and there are hundreds of thousands of people like this
17:15who think the service doesn't work,
17:17that the bus model is broken.
17:19So you're a commercial man and you're a council man.
17:22How do we solve it?
17:23What is really the answer, rather than tinkering around the edges?
17:26We work very closely with the combined authority
17:29and with the council to try and make services as reliable as possible.
17:33It's about providing sustainable service.
17:36But that is all very much dependent upon passengers.
17:38So passengers always is number one
17:40because without passengers we don't have a service.
17:43The reality is neither the bus company nor the council
17:48are able to give the people of Todmorden what they want.
17:52How do you feel at meetings like this?
17:54Because everybody blames you, they all give you grief,
17:56they want you to say there's going to be loads more buses,
17:58but you don't have any more money.
18:00You must feel in a very difficult position.
18:02You can't promise what they want.
18:04No.
18:05You can't give them what they want.
18:07I'd love to.
18:08It's impossible to satisfy everybody's needs.
18:10You use the expression in the meeting, tinker around the edges.
18:13To a certain extent, some of that tinkering is what you need
18:17to actually listen to what people say
18:19and make some small changes that actually address some of those needs.
18:23But ultimately, it needs more to satisfy what everybody wants.
18:29What does the bus model look like in the future, do you think?
18:32It's not going to exist.
18:33If you carry on like this, nobody will use it.
18:35They can't use it.
18:36You can't rely on it.
18:38It's a waste of time.
18:40A waste of time.
18:47BBC analysis has found more than a million people in Britain
18:52no longer have access to a regular bus service.
18:55That's more than 500,000 households
18:59more than a mile from a bus stop with a regular service.
19:07All things wise and wonderful
19:11The Lord's God made them all
19:15Fantastic.
19:17Well done.
19:18We found the words.
19:20Can you read them OK?
19:21I think you know them, actually, don't you?
19:23Well, I used to go to church.
19:25Did you?
19:26Jenny is a care worker
19:28and one of those who struggles daily with the Todmorden Burnley service.
19:34Today, she's with Angela at her home in Hebden Bridge.
19:39I've done shifts where I'm seven in the morning till ten at night
19:4230 minute calls, hour calls
19:44and then going from person to person to person
19:46either waiting for buses or having to walk in torrential rain.
19:49It makes a difference.
19:50I'd have more choice with jobs if there was a good transport network.
19:55So even your ability to work as an NHS worker
19:59is dependent on which part of the country you live in.
20:01Very frustrating.
20:02Yeah.
20:03How do you describe the transport system that you live with up here?
20:06In London, you pay £1.50 to get on a bus.
20:09It's free for kids.
20:10Up here, it costs £6.40 just for one adult and two kids
20:14to travel four miles.
20:16So it's a huge...
20:17There's no justification for the fact that it is
20:20three to four times more expensive to travel on buses
20:24in this part of the world to London.
20:27Part of the reason is the difference in subsidy.
20:31In London, the public money spent on buses
20:34works out at nearly £90 per person.
20:37In England, outside of London, it's a third of that.
20:41Just less than £30.
20:45And in London, the whole transport system is integrated.
20:49That's not the case on my next stop, Manchester.
20:54Even when there are plenty of buses, the system can be messy.
20:59Like most of the UK, Manchester has several different bus companies.
21:05Then there's trams and a rail network,
21:08and all are charging separate fares.
21:16Which is not great for people like Tom.
21:19He teaches music at schools across Manchester and Salford.
21:24Every day, he has to put his faith in the bus system.
21:28So it's September 8th. You've got to be in for ten.
21:31Yeah.
21:32Are we going to make it?
21:34Yeah, yeah, we should be OK.
21:37Yeah, as long as everything kind of, you know, goes to plan.
21:41He has to navigate his way by bus, metro, tram and train
21:46with separate tickets for each one.
21:48I'll have to get the bus ticket, which is about six quid.
21:52I've got to get the train, which is about fiver.
21:54And then I'll have to really get a MET ticket as well,
21:57which will be another fiver, six quid.
22:00Right, right.
22:01So, yeah, it's upwards of 15 quid.
22:03Just to get to work?
22:04Yeah.
22:05And now it's 27 minutes past eight.
22:07There's still no sign of it.
22:09It might be a bit touch and go.
22:11There's a bus now.
22:12Oh, yeah, this looks promising.
22:14That 56 just hasn't showed. This is the 156.
22:17The bus that you came for didn't turn up.
22:21So we're getting this one now, the 156, which is the later bus.
22:27The train's a quarter past. Right.
22:29If I don't make that train, then I'm screwed, really.
22:32If you work in a job where it's a zero-hours contract or whatever,
22:35like mine is, you can't really afford to be late on a regular basis.
22:39They'll just bin you off.
22:41And so that is a bit of a stress, really, you know.
22:44Right, er...
22:47The delay caused by a bus not showing up and roadworks in the city
22:52means that Tom is now late for his tram.
22:55Only one option left, run.
23:07Yeah, there's an alternate in two minutes, so...
23:09OK, well done.
23:10Should be all right, hopefully. Yeah.
23:17Tom's off the metro tram, but still running late to catch the train.
23:31I'm hungry.
23:38We made it.
23:40Though only because the train is late.
23:43So, er...
23:45Welcome to my commute.
23:49I've had more fun on a Wednesday morning.
23:53Phew!
23:55So you've just made it.
23:57But, er, yeah, not without busting the gut.
24:00I had to really run there.
24:02I don't think anyone who's not kind of a bit fit, like,
24:05is going to make that. No, it was...
24:07And it's no fault of my own, like, I feel like,
24:10people say, oh, we'll get an early bus.
24:12Well, we tried. Yeah.
24:13Tried to get the early bus, it didn't show.
24:15And my case has broke as well.
24:17This is my second one of these.
24:19Phew!
24:22Tom's made it to school just in time.
24:25My ukulele has a body, so you hold it.
24:29But it's got no arms and legs.
24:33Right, OK, now we're going to learn...
24:37There is a different way.
24:39Some authorities, like Manchester, could take control.
24:43They'd choose fares and routes
24:45and the buses would be run by private companies.
24:48That's what happens in London,
24:50where buses are cheaper and more frequent.
24:53But London buses are subsidised by money from the Tube,
24:57so that model might not work everywhere.
25:00It might work in some of the bigger cities,
25:02where we've got, you know,
25:04It might work in some of the bigger cities,
25:06where we've got the scale of a bus network
25:08and the scale of public transport,
25:10be it trams, trains or other services,
25:13that can integrate and make it work.
25:15For rural areas, it's probably not going to be appropriate.
25:18All the energy has gone on to serving our cities
25:20and connecting them.
25:21What we need to look at is how we connect up all of our communities.
25:24So we've got small towns, villages and rural areas
25:26that are really suffering from a lack of connection.
25:29We shouldn't be seeing this in 21st century.
25:33I'm back on a bus, this time in Preston,
25:37but it's not moving very fast.
25:40The data suggests that only about 7% of us
25:43use buses to commute in and out of work.
25:46And look at the roads here.
25:48That kind of makes sense because, like lots of places,
25:52Preston doesn't seem to have many bus lanes.
25:55So we climb on a bus, we're doing the right thing,
25:57but we then just queue like everybody else.
26:01The government has said that some of that £5bn of investment
26:05it's promised will go on new bus lanes.
26:08They also say they'll fund thousands of electric buses,
26:12as well as improving bus frequency and simplifying fares.
26:16But will it be enough to get the system working again?
26:21To bring back our bus services, put them in place
26:23across the country again where they've been removed,
26:25transition them to a zero-emission fleet
26:27and improve the quality and reduce the fares.
26:29That might cost more than the £5bn in that announcement,
26:32but we didn't have that money before.
26:34I think it's very welcome for bus services
26:36that the government has committed that amount of funding.
26:39See you later. Bye.
26:41So with all this investment,
26:43what do bus users here in Preston want?
26:47To improve the service really is to me
26:51every 10 minutes, every 15 minutes would do.
26:56But half an hour hanging about in the bus station,
26:59you know what I mean?
27:01And I'm 83.
27:04If I miss my bus, I have to be here for an hour and a half every single day
27:07and I have to get two buses to get home
27:09because there's not enough buses to go about Preston.
27:12I'm not happy with the bus service because they're only one an hour.
27:16So I want them more frequently,
27:18but I maybe want every half an hour or something like that.
27:21Mine's every two hours.
27:23Yours every two hours?
27:25Every two hours, mine.
27:27That's Blackpool.
27:29That's Blackpool.
27:31And that's Blackpool.
27:33It's quite emotional. This is the end of my journey.
27:35We've arrived in Blackpool.
27:51We've arrived in Blackpool.
27:54Finally, the sea appears.
27:56We've travelled across the country.
27:59Having travelled coast to coast,
28:02I can see why so many people have given up on buses.
28:05Fares, reliability,
28:07even whether there's a bus route at all near where you live,
28:10it doesn't feel like a public service that we can rely upon.
28:16Investment is promised.
28:18Well, it's needed.
28:20What we have now is broken.
28:24Keeping you across everything,
28:26the coronavirus podcast from BBC News
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