There was all-party support at last Friday's West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority Executive Board meeting for Metro's continued work towards Quality Contracts if they represent the best deal for local bus passengers.

A report to Authority members described how in its latest Interim Report into the bus industry, the Competition Commission had shied away from recommending Quality Contract schemes under which bus companies bid to run services specified by organisations like Metro. However the report also explained that many of the solutions suggested in the Commission's provisional findings were in place in West Yorkshire but were having no discernible impact towards achieving its objective of more on-street competition.

Detrimental

"The Commission calculated that at least 50%, but possibly as many as 98%, of West Yorkshire bus services were being detrimentally affected by a lack of competition in the industry," said Metro Chairman Cllr James Lewis. "If, as the Commission says, the national cost of this lack of competition is £150m, in West Yorkshire this could equate to as much as £25m lost."

"Although it backed away from recommending Quality Contracts, we have to remember that as its name indicates, the Commission's main objective is promoting competition whereas Metro's is achieving the best services for local people," he continued. "And if this means Metro setting routes, fares, timetables and quality standards and operators bidding to run services, as happens with most cities throughout Europe including London, we will continue down the Quality Contract scheme route."

In its Interim Report the Commission itself acknowledges the limitations of its work, admitting that it does not, like Metro and the other Transport Authorities, take into account the wider social and policy objectives. The report also recognises that in West Yorkshire there is little competition on many routes owing to the dominance of single operators.

Overwhelming support

In a poll conducted last year by the Guardian Leeds website, voters came out overwhelmingly in favour of Metro's plans to introduce Quality Bus Contracts. Over 95% of voters who responded to the Guardian's question, 'Should Metro regulate Leeds' buses?' agreed that Metro should be allowed to set the specification for Leeds's buses, and just over 90% said that bus services in Leeds were poor or in need of improvement.

"By introducing a Quality Contract Scheme, Metro can create competition and generate a better experience for passengers by raising standards for vehicles and staff, and provide the integrated smartcard-enabled ticketing system that passengers tell us they want to see," added Cllr Lewis. "Making bus travel more attractive for passengers will reverse the ongoing fall in bus patronage and lead to a more stable market, which will in turn ensure ongoing profitability for operators, so everyone's a winner."

Find out more about Metro's plans for Quality Contracts

Read the ITA Executive Board Report.