Mayor Oliver Coppard plans to franchise the bus system turning it back under public control.

This will mean depots and fleets are will be owned by the Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA), rather than the current private companies. 

Investment to renew the ageing bus fleet is required urgently from an economic perspective, but also to achieve net zero aims for South Yorkshire that set out to reduce pollution and improve the health of residents. 

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, said: “Right now our bus services are in a spiral of decline. That’s not just a disaster for our economy, or our environment, it’s denying opportunity to people right across our communities.”

“I’m doing everything I can to get the government to give us a fair funding deal, because bus services are vital. Not just for our economy, so we can see our families, get to school or to work, but as a means of allowing people to access opportunity wherever it might be.

“That is even more true when we are facing a climate crisis. We should be investing in buses. I am determined to fight these cuts, so we can have the public transport system we deserve.”

First Bus said it was confident it could help deliver change. Stagecoach said it was committed to working with SYMCA to make the network successful.

Student Evan Powell, 28, said: “ Its quite awkward having both stage coach and first running because you end up waiting 15 minutes (for the bus)  but then like three buses come at once, equally I think under city council control for instance, it would make the bus system more coordinated.”

Mayor Oliver Coppard said the estimated cost of the whole transition to franchising would be £25m.

In terms of investment to improve bus services, South Yorkshire receives just over £10 per head of population of government funding towards buses while West Yorkshire receives nearly £40 per head. 

On top of this, South Yorkshire received nothing from the first round of the government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, and it was the only MCA not to receive anything.

Bus services have become less frequent, less reliable and operated by an ageing fleet of buses. South Yorkshire’s buses on average are 11.5 years old (the national average is eight years) against a life expectancy of 15 years.

A new electric bus costs £400,000 and its £250,000 for a diesel bus. The mayor will need to invest in new vehicles, set affordable fares, reinstate routes, make services reliable and most importantly, rebuild people’s faith and encourage them back on the bus.

Alex Facchino, 21, a Philosophy student said: “It could improve the prices and hopefully means we won’t need two passes for the different buses.”

Franchising could also have a greater impact on addressing the existing challenges around fare and ticketing complexity, as fares policy would solely reside with the MCA in this model.