The Government has said it will focus on bringing bus and train services under public control.
This was reaffirmed as part of Transport Secretary Louise Haigh’s speech at this week’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.
Ms Haigh said privatisation of transport belonged to the past and had failed.
The government is bringing in new laws to renationalise railways in Great Britain and giving more local authorities in England the power to take control of bus services, reports the BBC.
Haigh said this would mean services would “work for passengers not profiteers”.
She told delegates 30 years of rail privatisation had “left us with a system that served no one other than its shareholders”, with record delays and cancellations. She said because of the current system, operators have been allowed to pick and choose routes that put profit ahead of passengers.
She said: “We are ripping up the very roots of Thatcherism that have undermined and run down our transport system for decades,” Haigh said.
“Privatisation of our transport is not pragmatism. It hasn’t spurred innovation. It hasn’t made things better. It belongs to a past that failed.”
Labour has promised to renationalise nearly all passenger rail services within five years, with a new public body inheriting existing contracts when they expire and taking on responsibility for running services, said the BBC report.
Legislation to bring in the change is currently making its way through Parliament.
Under the government’s plans for buses, all local authorities in England would be allowed to introduce a franchising system.
This would mean they can decide routes, timetables and fares, with operators bidding to run the services for a fixed fee.
The government has also pledged to remove a ban on publicly owned bus companies.
Responding to the speech, Graham Vidler, CEO at the Confederation of Passenger Transport said: “It’s great to have a Transport Secretary who cares about buses and can recall when bus fares were just tuppence in Sheffield. But passengers today are waiting for clarity over the future of the £2 fare cap. An Immediate decision is needed to prevent a cliff edge return to fully commercial fares when the £2 fare cap ends in December – a scenario that would harm passengers and services.
“Passengers also want to hear how far this Government is prepared to sustain and prioritise the type of investment in bus services which is currently improving passenger experience across the country. Better bus services will only arrive when stable and adequate long-term funding and a toolbox of options permit local leaders and bus operators to choose an approach that will best suit their local community.”
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