Saturday 18th February 2023 saw the final day of operations by First Bus in Southampton, it removed the last vestiges of what had been Southampton Corporation Transport, admittedly now in a very sorry state. The occasion begs the question, does Southampton get the bus service it deserves?
Can the foundations of Saturday the 18th be found back in deregulation or even earlier. The council in Southampton has ebbed and flowed in its support for public transport and the associated infrastructure. In early 1970s to great fanfare, a major bus priority scheme was introduced from the eastern edge of the city all the way to Six Dials, just a short distance from the city centre. This turned out to be the last major support for public transport by the council and today all that remains of this scheme are a few traffic light priority measures. Subsequent attempts to introduce bus lanes or priority schemes have meet with resistance from council members. Only the bus gate at the cenotaph and a short stretch of the Avenue shows any initiative by the council to accommodate buses. In recent decades the city centre has undergone major redevelopment, however no provision was made for a central bus station, but 16,450 parking spaces were created, 6790 of those managed directly by the council. The metrics used by the council in their transport policy, place the city as the cheapest place to park compared to other in the table.
The Corporation invested heavily in new buses at the end of WW2 after which a gap occurred until the mid-sixty’s and continued with Atlanteans to facilitate OMO operations, this left an aging fleet at the time of deregulation and ultimately for the staff buyout.
An unfortunate set of circumstances within the transport department management structure at a vital point just ahead of deregulation helped exacerbate the situation. Mr Armstrong had retired as general manager and Bill Lewis was promoted into the post. He became a vocal opponent to bus deregulation and resigned from the general managers post. John Owen was traffic manager, he would shortly take up the post of general manager of Thamesdown, in so doing would remain with the local authority operator until retirement. Regrettably, other managers intrusted with planning for deregulation took their knowledge and formed a company to compete with their former employer, in so doing laid the foundations for what is now Bluestar. All of this left the council company in a weak position at deregulation and the decision to sale off the operation to an employee lead buyout proved eventually misguided. Insufficient funding and misguided expansion resulted in a vote to accept an offer for the business from First Bus.
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Initially First Bus appeared to have little enthusiasm for the business they purchased, in part this due to their desire for rapid expansion nationally. Gradually larger swathes of the city found itself without any bus service, despite many of the districts being densely populated and previously supporting a high frequency service. There was no attempt made by the council to rectify the situation and as a consequence the situation remains unchanged today. It has only been in recent years that First Bus has made any attempt to revitalise passenger numbers with a local branding for the network. However, rather than attempt to develop a more comprehensive network, they chose instead to compete with Bluestar on already well-established routes, something Bluestar themselves are guilty of. The council only supports the X12 between City Centre and Shirley, the X11 between Lordshill and the City Centre, and the three Bitterne Hoppas. Over the tenure of First Bus in Southampton the population has grown by 50,000, but passenger growth has been a mere 9% across all operators.
The laissez faire attitude of the council towards public transport looks set to continue. Their future transport policy until 2040 gives greater weight towards walking and cycling, unless you believe their ‘aspiration’ to introduce a mass transit system. Those of us old enough will remember the 1970s headlines and graphics in the local paper proudly showing off the monorail that would run through the city centre. Grandiose statements by politicians are for their own desire create a legacy not benefit those they represent. However, there could be a bright future on the horizon in the form of Go Ahead Bluestar. Up until now Bluestar has worked hard to sustain its network and invest in their fleet, with no opposition this could be a great opportunity for both the operator and passengers in the city, provided no one ask the city council for support.
