A more proactive CPT

At the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Annual Dinner on 31 January 2019, Martin Dean gave his second speech as CPT President after agreeing to continue in the role for a second term.

CPT Restructure

Martin began by speaking about the CPT’s restructure: “I said at last year’s dinner that in order to build on the successful lobbying and influencing of Government that CPT had achieved, a new more proactive style of engagement with politicians, officials, communities and stakeholders is needed. For good reasons, but for perhaps too long, as an industry we had been a little bit too much in ‘scapegoat’ mode, reacting to changes. [wlm_nonmember][…]

[/wlm_nonmember] [wlm_ismember] “CPT, with the support of its membership, needs to be in a position where it provides leadership in terms of strategy and policy. In order to do so CPT needs to regroup and refocus its engagement, at the forefront, initiating and leading debate around changes in society and the role transport plays.
“I know that members also want CPT to be leading the industry into the future, not just purely getting people from A to B. Wider benefits include contributing to a healthier lifestyle, supporting communities whether in urban or rural areas, rejuvenating our high streets, improving air quality, and combating loneliness.
“I am confident that working together we can create the new CPT that can and will do all the things we want of an effective trade body. The result will be a stronger voice for the industry, a higher profile across the wider transport sector, and with it the value and contribution coach and bus services make to the economy and society will be moved up the policy and political agenda.”

The high street

Speaking about challenges facing the industry, Martin considered the impact of high street decline.
He said: “Over the last few months we have seen the loss of several high street stores and the trading figures for Christmas did not make happy reading for a number of our biggest chains and outlets. People’s lifestyles are changing and with it their shopping patterns.
“The growth in online shopping has impacted not just on footfall in the high street but also the increased numbers of delivery vans and couriers and their impact on congestion. We all seem to be agreed that society will benefit from rejuvenated and prosperous high streets but there seem to be differing views of how that can be achieved.
“As the major retailers announced their Christmas trading results the consensus seemed to be that the health of the high street was closely linked to more car parking and free car parking at that. Rarely in any of the media coverage about the fate of the high street do you see a mention of a coach or a bus. The fact that around a third of bus journeys are taken by folks going shopping isn’t featured. No mention of the fact that bus passengers on average spend around £54 per trip – a substantial contribution to the local economy. And not forgetting the huge contribution that coach operators make with ‘days out‘ tours delivering huge numbers of people right to the heart of the high street using the least amount of road space.
“We need to get better in getting these messages across and joining the conversation. Increasing town centre car parking also conflicts with other flagship Government objectives such as being more active and improving air quality. More car parking encourages greater car use.
“The air quality debate has raged for several years now. Coach and bus operators alike are making huge investments in cleaner vehicles. Gone are the days of our beloved belching Leyland Olympians. Our supply chain is continually looking to increase the environmental credentials of the vehicles it manufacturers.
“Local authorities are being required to implement bold measures to improve the air quality in their areas, including Clean Air Zones (CAZ), whilst at the same time, they are being told that the way to improve their local high street is to bring in more cars. This is counter-intuitive. We need to educate and explain the longer term solutions we can deliver and the benefits over short term solutions.

“This issue highlights exactly why as an industry we need to be more proactive. Initiate, lead, contribute and influence the debate and form alliances with stakeholders outside our immediate traditional cohort. Coaches and buses should be at the heart of planning decisions for our town centres and wider communities. Not because of narrow business interests but because thriving bus networks and unfettered coach access can make a vital contribution to society.
“We need to make examples of good practice the norm. Park & Ride schemes are a successful alternative to city centre car parking. Well sited Park & Rides encourage people to leave their cars on the outskirts of urban areas and complete their journeys using our environmentally friendly vehicles.
“For coach operators CPT has been working tirelessly with local authorities to demonstrate the benefits in town centre design of safe coach pick up and set down points and long-term parking areas. These simple but effective measures can be the difference between popular attractions being on the coach operators’ itinerary or not.”

Creating the right environment for investment

“The other issue I want to speak about this evening is about creating the right environment to encourage investment in our sector,” Martin continued. “Of course investment is something we all do as a matter of course and the industry has a great record in this respect. Indeed when I was preparing evidence for the recent Transport Select Committee enquiry into the health of the bus sector, I was interested to learn from Chris Cheek’s excellent Bus Industry Monitor that in the 10 years to 2016 the net profits the bus companies achieved of £2.9bn were exceeded by the £3.5bn it invested in asset renewal.
“So we have a record to be proud of but our stakeholders are asking for more. Our stakeholders include our customers who are looking for increasing levels of comfort but also our central and local government partners who are looking to see at the very least an ultra-low emission future for our towns and cities.
“This is something I sense the sector is keen to respond to. We recognise this as a huge opportunity, particularly in urban areas. Unrestrained car use in congested urban areas is unsustainable, but the new ultra low emission and zero emission technology is not cheap and requires investment in the vehicles and ways of refueling and maintaining vehicles – certainly as we start moving towards zero emission in the longer term.

“Together we need to create the right environment to encourage continuing investment to make an ultra-low emission and eventually a zero emission future a reality. We are very grateful to the Government for the various forms of funding that have encouraged this process to start but we all need to do more.
“Creating the right environment for investment should be supported by a national bus strategy with clear objectives and targets and a sector deal to underpin the current coach and bus manufacturing base in the UK. It is a leader in clean diesel technology and is making great strides in zero emission drive lines but a strategy would give us all a clearer purpose of what we are trying to achieve through clear objectives, targets and funding commitments.
“CPT has been working hard on developing such a strategy and soon hopes to be in a position to take this to a wider stakeholder group. It will set out what we can do together – operators, manufacturers, local and national government and our regulators to really deliver for our customers, communities and societies as a whole.
“I appreciate this is set against a backdrop of declining patronage in bus but this just demonstrates the need for a national strategy is even more pressing. The KPMG report for CPT published in 2018 on factors affecting bus patronage was clear that it is a complex subject and the principal reasons for decline are mainly due to factors beyond the control of bus operators. We must put bus – and coach – at the heart of planning for schools, hospitals, housing, town centres and social services.”

Other issues

Briefly touching on other issues the industry is facing, Martin spoke about Brexit: “It is difficult to say too much given the wider uncertainties but the one thing I would say is that as a people centred industry we all need to recognise the impact the discussions can have on those loyal staff we have working for us from other EU countries who sense an uncertain future. In some of our businesses they form an integral part of the vital public service we supply to our customers.
“Whatever the post Brexit world might give us, we need to support them in uncertain times, not just to encourage existing colleagues to stay but also to ensure the supply of new staff does not dry up. It was not so long ago that a key constraint to growth in the industry was availability of labour and it would be a shame if so much of what we are trying to achieve would be undermined by a return to such shortages.”

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