New low for bus services in Preston with lady in her 60s left walking home in dark

A Preston councillor says bus services in the city have reached “a new pit”, with passengers being left stranded at stops for up to 90 minutes – even during rush hour.

Jonathan Saksena told a Preston City Council meeting that recent months had witnessed a slump in the “effectiveness and punctuality” of the local bus network.

“People have been waiting an hour-and-a-half for buses in peak periods to get home from work,” the Ribbleton ward politician said.

“A lady in her 60s has been having to walk in the dark to get home, because buses have just not turned up.”

Cllr Saksena did not pinpoint any one operator as he outlined his concerns, but the Local Democracy Reporting Service approached both Preston Bus and Stagecoach – the two main companies serving the city – for comment on the experience of the passengers he highlighted.

Preston Bus said it was not aware of any “chronic” issues of late – except for days when road accidents had brought the city to a standstill. Stagecoach, meanwhile, did not respond.

However, city council leader Matthew Brown said that “asking the bus companies nicely…to improve services doesn’t work”.

He told the meeting that the authority was pushing for a “Greater Manchester-style bus franchising arrangement”, as part of Lancashire’s devolution deal. That would put local authorities in control of routes and prices, with services being contracted out to bus operators to deliver.

However, the Labour leader said he would ultimately like to go further and see buses being run directly by the town hall.

“I think we need to look at what councils did in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and [see] whether we can actually have our own bus service that’s owned by the… municipality” Cllr Brown said.

“We [would] decide as politicians [how] communities are served.

“The deregulation and privatisation of bus services [in 1986] has been an absolute disaster and we need..as a local authority…to move back into the realm of owning bus companies.”

Since Lancashire’s devolution deal was signed last year, the Labour government has promised bus franchising powers to any area that wants them.

Elsewhere in Lancashire, Blackpool Council has its own in-house transport arm.

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