Why buses are central to city economies Cllr Roger Lawrence Leader, City of Wolverhampton Council

Renaissance: Why the West Midlands? Transforming our city economies Challenges Importance of bus

Renaissance: Why the West Midlands? Transforming our city economies Challenges Importance of bus

Current Population Constituent authorities: 2.86m Constituent & non constituent authorities: 4.58m …second only to London

Projected to increase by 450k by 2039 (the current population of Bristol)

34% of WM residents are aged 0 to 24 (highest % of all English Met) areas)

Most ethnically diverse area outside of London with a 30% non white population

Patronage Figures (2016/17)

We keep traffic flowing on some of the busiest roads by managing a 605km Key Route Network

We own & operate Midland Metro which covers 21km/26 stops and are expanding the network by approx’ 34km

27m journeys were made using the Swift Card in 2016/17, making the it the largest smart card system outside of London

We manage 38 rail station car parks with over 8,000 spaces

We fund subsidised buses to cover socially necessary services that are not provided on a commercial basis

Our regional bus network is accessible to over 3 million people (30% who have no access to a car)

We are working to rebuild up to 9 rail stations and reopen 3 lines

Leading Economic Growth

Renaissance: Why the West Midlands? Transforming our city economies Challenges Importance of bus

Regional collaboration

1

New Housing •

HIF bids

•

New financing models

•

Construction skills

•

Social housing

•

Creating a new sense

of place

2

Restoring pride in the region

3

Mayoral Transport 2020 Priorities • Busting Congestion • New golden era for trains & Metro • Making buses clean, safe and fast • Supporting our world-class airport • Supercharging cycling and walking • Getting a grip of air pollution

Example: West Midlands Bus Alliance • First of its kind in the UK • Further commitments from all partners up to 2020 • Pivotal time with Mayoral powers and new Bus Services legislation • Our focus is on making bus travel cleaner, greener, safer and faster

Renaissance: Why the West Midlands? Transforming our city economies Challenges Importance of bus

Bus journey time to Birmingham City Centre Rising journey times – met area speeds fell 10% since end of recession – bus speeds have fallen 1% on average every year since – record-breaking traffic volumes in last two years

2006

Bus journey time to Birmingham City Centre Rising journey times – met area speeds fell 10% since end of recession – bus speeds have fallen 1% on average every year since – record-breaking traffic volumes in last two years

2016 – 200,000 people no longer covered Non-car accessibility reduced by 150,000 jobs

Clean Air

Bringing simple and easy payment to multi-operator networks is a huge challenge

Swift – revolutionising public transport payment

Swift – Retail Convenience

Swift – Magnitude

Annualised Swift Journeys 35,000,000 Unique users 2016 127,255

25,000,000

Unique users 2017 189,392

15,000,000

Swift – Upcoming enhancements

CAPPING

Renaissance: Why the West Midlands? Transforming our city economies Challenges Importance of bus

Importance of bus to the local job market • Bus trips account for 4 in every 5 public transport journeys in the region • WM bus network provides access to 1.2 million jobs and 40% of trips to High Streets. • 244,000 daily bus trips to and from Birmingham City Centre each day

Our buses are green and getting greener West Midlands Bus Fleet (Jan 2018) 13

403

541

510 734

Euro VI

Euro V

Euro IV

Euro III

Euro II

Bus travel across the network • 800,000 bus trips on our Key Route Network every weekday • 200,000 more bus trips than by private car on the KRN • 90% of our urban area within 400m of a bus stop

Continued need to invest in our bus network • Bus is essential to delivering our Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) • A great enabler of development by being flexible to adapt to changing travel patterns • Realisation of more strategic mass-transit through improved connectivity between, jobs, housing and education • New low emission buses will deliver improved air quality • Buses need greater priority through a step-change in investment to support the scale and shape of growth across our region