Richard Baum

Last night was my debut speech to Council, proposing an amendment which called upon the government to extend the concessionary travel scheme and give free bus travel to school children, as well as to extend the yellow school bus scheme to every school in England. Below is a transcript of my speech, minus a few last minute amendments scribbled as the debate went on…

In proposing this amendment Mr Mayor, I would like to tell Council the story of Arthur Pennington, a resident of my ward who is 82 years old.  

Arthur visits his family in Burnley fairly often, and he likes to take the bus.  

He gets the X43 which goes from Manchester, through Prestwich and out northwards into Lancashire.  

And at the moment, Arthur travels for free. 

Except that, when the bus gets to the border of the Borough of Bury, Arthur has to get off, watch the bus drive away in the direction he wants to go, and wait for the next one to come so he can pay to be taken the rest of the way. 

The bus companies aren’t allowed to take him any further than the border, even though they’re going in the same direction.  

Some nice drivers let him get off and then straight back on again. But lots don’t. 

Now, I don’t think there’s anyone in this room tonight who doesn’t think that’s ridiculous. 

Arthur doesn’t begrudge paying.  

He objects to the silly situation of getting free local transport, then having to wait in the cold at a bus-stop far away because a very sensible policy has been implemented in a not very sensible way. 

But now, because of the government, his problem will go away.  

And I think we should thank them for that.  

Now Arthur, and every other over-60 in the country, can travel far and wide for free on buses.  It’s a marvellous idea, for lots of reasons.

And Arthur’s happy. 

But contrast Arthur with the many local people in my ward who have to go to school every day.  

They don’t travel for free.  

They pay 70p every time they board a bus. 

70p up from 50p last year, and up and up and up in recent years.

Trebling since I was at school in the 1990s. 

70p every time they board a bus. And for some of them that’s four times a day.  Two to get to school, and two to get back.  

That’s £2.80 a day, or £560 to get to school and back every school day for a year.  

So, a family with two secondary school aged children are paying well over £1,000 a year just to send their children to school.  

The same money as a summer holiday.  

The same money as a family day out at a museum or country house every weekend for a year. 

Much more than the cost of a school uniform. 

More than the cost of school dinners. 

The government should do something about that. 

And we’re calling on the government to give to our young people free travel, just as it is giving our old people. 

Mr Mayor, Councillors on all sides of this chamber agree that the 70p fare is too high.  

I know this because I was recently lucky to be chosen to take part in the presciently titled competition “I’m a Councillor, Get Me Out Of Here,” and was grilled by the youngsters of this Borough.  

And so were five of my colleagues here tonight. And we were all asked about the 70p fare. 

Councillor Connelly said “I think that people under 16 should travel free on the bus.”

Councillor Cresswell said “I would like to see free transport for all young students.” 

I agree with them both. And I said so in the competition. And the young people of the Borough will doubtless be cheered by the tri-partisan show of unity which we can display on this issue.  

Well Mr Mayor, us Councillors can’t get out of here now, so will they join me in asking the government to give us what we all want? 

Young people have no choice.  

They have no access to private transport of their own to rival the buses.  

They have no income, so have to rely on their parents. 

And obviously, the parents hit the hardest are the ones who have the least. Our young people need to get to school, and they need to do so on the bus.  S

o we shouldn’t be charging them £560 a year to do it. 

But it’s about more than getting to and from school. 

It’s about opening up social and leisure and cultural opportunities for young people to enjoy on public transport. 

It’s about providing added opportunity without added financial burden.  

It’s about instilling in our young people a lifelong appreciation for public transport as a sensible alternative to the car. The cleanest, greenest, safest choice.  

And the only way to get them to do this is by getting more of them on the buses for free from now.  

Of course it would cost money. I know that. 

I may have been elected at the last election, but I didn’t come down in the last shower. 

It’s about priorities.  

It’s about making the choice and teaching our children that public transport is the best way to travel.  

And choosing that we should spend the money where it needs to be spent. 

Because where there is a need, that money should be found.  

And there is a need. And that money should be found. 

It has been found in London. There, 385,000 young people of school age benefit from free travel. And the poorest benefit the most. 

385,000 young people. 

That’s nearly twice the population of our entire Borough. 

Think of the difference that makes.  

In London they made efficiencies with smart cards. Just the type of smart cards that will soon be appearing on buses here.  

And the buses made more money, because more adults were using them too, bucking the national trend.  Because if your children can travel for free, it’s cheaper for the family to take the bus than the car.  

And as the economy grows, more people use buses in our new quality bus corridors to get places. More passengers, more fares, more money for improvements. 

This is what happened in London, and it can happen here too.  And 80% of the people of London backed the move to introduce the scheme when they were asked by MORI. 

The people want the scheme. The children benefit from the scheme. The government should widen the scheme. 

And the government should extend the current yellow bus scheme to every secondary school in England. Because Mr Mayor, 

Yellow buses cut truancy.  Yellow buses cut traffic. And yellow buses save lives. 

In America over half of all school children take a yellow bus to school. In the UK, the figure is less than 10% 

Yellow buses cut truancy because children have a sense of belonging. Their own bus, in their own neighbourhood, with their own seat. 

Each day the same bus, the same driver, the extension of the school community to a place where too often there is bullying, over-crowding, and unreliability. 

Yellow buses cut traffic because parents are more likely to send the children to school on a designated school bus than on a regular bus. And the school-run accounts for 20% of all traffic on the roads. 

And yellow buses save lives because this extra traffic accounts for 40 deaths and 900 serious injuries each and every year. 

Yellow buses work.  

In Hebden Bridge, a single yellow bus has cut 25,000 journeys a year by car in the area.

Think of the impact on pollution, on traffic, and the future health of the children on that bus. 

We should extend the buses across the country.   

We should call upon the government to find the money to get our children to school in a way that is fair, green and safe. 

We should call upon the government to roll out a policy which manages to be good for education, health and the environment all at the same time. 

Because we can make a real difference and that’s what we were sent here to do. 

Mr Mayor. I don’t have children. In fact it’s not very many years since I was one.  

Nor am I an old person. Although there are times in this place tpwards the end of meetings when I feel very much like one.

But I listen to the old people of my ward, and I listen to the children.  

The old people are delighted that they can move around for free. And the children are sad that they can’t.  

We have an opportunity to foster a generation of children who see public transport as a first option, not a forced second choice taken up through necessity. 

We have an opportunity to make life that little bit easier for poor families. 

We have the chance to cut traffic, cut accidents, and cut pollution. 

And all it takes is the will to see it done.  

So let’s show the government that we have that will.

And let’s see it done. 

Mr Mayor, I have pleasure in moving this amendment.