The Human Cost of Privatizing Buses in the United Kingdom

That the Parliament notes the report, Public Transport, Private Profit: The Human Cost of Privatizing Buses in the United Kingdom, by Philip Alston, Bassam Khawaja and Rebecca Riddell, published by the Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law; understands that one finding in the report states that the “extreme form of privatization and deregulation” imposed on England outside London, Scotland and Wales has left residents with “an expensive, unreliable, fragmented, and dysfunctional bus system that is slowly falling apart”; considers that the benefits of the deregulated model proposed in a 1984 white paper, including “lower fares, new services, more passengers”, have not been realised; understands that another finding in the report states that the deregulated model has failed and resulted in “serious human rights impacts for those who rely on the bus, including to access work, education, healthcare, and food, and to move out of poverty”, and believes that the recommendations in the report, embracing public control of bus transport, guaranteeing access to public transport through statutory minimum service levels, supporting local authorities pursuing public ownership or control of buses, ensuring affordability of fares, and using a strong bus system to help meet climate change targets, should be adopted as part of a new approach to bus transport.