Give Bristol and Surrounding Councils Power to Run Buses

Last week one of the bus companies serving Bristol, Bristol Community Transport, collapsed. This follows years of poor funding for the city's buses so that many services have been cut, particularly to the outlying suburbs. There is now no bus service connecting Whitchurch in the south-east to the city centre. Many people therefore have to rely on taxis to get into town, and these can be very expensive. A taxi from Whitchurch to one of Bristol's main hospitals, the Bristol Royal Infirmary, can cost £17 to £21. There is a real danger that the commercial bus companies serving the city will cut services further to concentrate on the profitable routes.
Many routes are not commercially profitable, but they are vital for people to get to work, their children to secondary school, to hospitals and clinics and to shops and other services further in town.
Bristol Councillor Don Alexander has said that the commercial services are failing the city. Liberal Democrat Councillor for Bath and North-East Somerset Sarah Warren has said that what is needed is for local authorities to be given the power to nationalise bus companies or to run franchises.
She is correct. This is exactly what is needed. Local transport authorities should have the power to create and run their own bus companies or award franchises so that buses keep running to outlying districts in and around Bristol. And these companies should be properly funded.