As a writer, I love to write about topics that feel important to me. From nutrition, to training, to gender equality, pretty much anything that crosses my mind makes it onto paper. Only a handful ever make it out into the real world, but the simple act of regurgitating my thoughts into the ether makes me feel better.
As an ultramarathon runner, the majority of my articles are something to do with running. The people I write for are interested in running, my social media followers are interested in running, and I get paid to talk about running. So when I found myself considering the issues facing public transport in this country, I tried to find a spin that would relate it to running. Runners use public transport? Sure, but not more than your average person. We need public transport to take us to the trails? Yes… but it’s a little bit random to write a whole article about not being able to access my local countryside… or is it?
If you think about it, literally every single part of running is related to aspects of politics, from the clothes we wear, to the water we drink, to our access to green spaces. Last month I wrote a whole article about this for Like The Wind magazine.
Why do we need better public transport?
According to a 2020 survey by the Ramblers, around 57% of Brits live within 5 minutes of a green space. In contrast, if you look at those from minority ethnic backgrounds, this figure drops to just 39%.
Access to green spaces is not just a ‘nice to have’, it’s a public health issue. A landmark study by the Lancet looked at proximity to green space and all-cause mortality, and found that across all income brackets, those with greater exposure to green space have lower rates of mortality. The health benefits include the reduction of stress hormones, lower risk of cardiovascular disease, lower rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. There is a direct correlation between access to green space and prevalence of disease. Perhaps it is impossible to bring green spaces to the people, but we could certainly work to bring the people to the green spaces. Access is everything.
As trail runners and lovers of the great outdoors, a lot of us are lucky enough to spend huge quantities of time in nature. It’s been great for my blood pressure! What has not been good for my blood pressure is trying to figure out how to get there. Cue my pivot to discussing public transport.
As a former Londoner, I never really thought about public transport. I never considered who used it, how often it ran or what it meant to people and businesses in the big city, aside for a vague appreciation for not having to learn how to drive until I was 21, and even then, I didn’t drive for 5 years after passing my test, thanks to a generally excellent public transport system in and around London.
In 2020, I moved to Bristol, where I also went to university. Bristol won ‘green capital of Europe’ in 2015 while I was at university, and has been resting on its green laurels since then. In reality, however, the state of the public transport system in Bristol, as with the rest of the UK, is dire. The time it takes me to use the bus to get almost anywhere in Bristol is the same amount of time it would take me to walk. Sometimes, it is longer.
In the three years since I moved back to Bristol, bus routes have been cut further, echoing a trend across the UK, expedited (though not started) by the COVID pandemic. As the majority of bus services in the UK are for-profit businesses, any routes that are not making a profit are often cut. Since few people were travelling regularly in 2020, this led to a huge quantity of routes being felled. At least 1500 bus routes have been cut across the country since 2021, with the West Midlands being the worst hit, losing two thirds of services since 2010.
Public transport is not a sexy topic, but it is an important one. While it may not affect everyone directly, it impacts towns and cities in insidious ways. Cutting public transport is inherently sexist, as women are the primary users of buses worldwide. As primary care givers, women are also more likely to make several daily trips for caring roles, and public transport is key for accessing education, medical appointments, shops and employment.
It is elitist, as owning a car is both expensive and requires space, which is lacking in many communities. In areas with low emissions zones, upgrading cars to newer, compliant cars is unachievable for many, and a lack of public transport can isolate these communities almost entirely. Living closer to the city centre is often reserved for the wealthiest, and those who live on the outskirts of cities need ways of safely getting in and out of town (without resorting to expensive taxis).
Lack of public transport is ageist, further contributing to the isolation of elderly populations of people who are unable to drive.
It is also ableist, as many people with disabilities rely on public transport to travel and without it cannot access doctors appointments, friends and family and all the other benefits the city has to offer.
And for your average trail runner, public transport offers a way of escape without the emissions, cost and logistics of driving. Often our runs are before the first bus of the day.
So why IS public transport in this country failing us so badly?
In 1985, the Transport Act under Margaret Thatcher deregulated services outside of London, leading to the sale and privatisation of previously council-run services. The result has been for-profit services dominated by just five private bus companies, whose main goal can only be to keep shareholders happy. According to the charity We Own It, between 2009 and 2019, the UK lost more than £1.49bn to bus company shareholders, while in the same timeframe, 3000 bus routes were cut. Since 2005, bus fares in England have gone up 71%, meaning a near doubling of prices in real terms.
In 2017, the Bus Services Act banned councils from setting up bus companies from scratch, meaning that they were unable to fill in the gaps left by cancelled private services. So, while councils can still buy existing operators, if they are not for sale, there is no simple way of improving bus services while they are in the hands of private companies.
In 2021, Boris Johnson launched a “Bus Back Better” campaign, pledging £3bn to improving bus services across the country. Johnson pledged to create services that “run so often that you don’t need a timetable”, promising to be “transformational”. But the only transformation turned out to be the amount pledged – £3bn “transformed” into just £1bn, leaving councils fighting over scraps.
What can be done?
There is hope, though. In 2021, following a We Own It campaign, the Mayor of Manchester decided to bring the region’s buses back into public control. In doing so, Manchester became the first city outside of London in 30 years to reregulate their public transport system. Now Manchester is able to set its own routes, frequencies and fares, due to be fully integrated by 2025. Reading has a similar system, and any profits go back into the system, leading to safer, more regular and environmentally friendly buses (Reading has one of the greenest fleets in the UK). Reregulation offers a system of improvement open to any Mayoral Authority to improve their public transport, and thus the happiness and health of their citizens.
Looking further afield, Bogota’s former major Enrique Peñalosa completely reconfigured the capital’s transport system. The aim of his work was to create a more equal society. “If we are all equal, a bus with 200 passengers should have 200 times more road space than the Mercedes with one passenger”, he said. While that would be impossible in old British towns and cities, the point stands. His changes weren’t always popular; during his first term, his approval rating plummeted to 17%. But by the end of that same term, he had the highest approval rating of any mayor in Bogota’s history. His conviction was strong, and the public transport system that he created transformed the city.
“An advanced city is not one where the poor own a car, but one where the rich use public transport.”
– Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogota
Public transport is a public health issue. It is a climate issue. It is a social issue. The problem is quiet but insidious, and is only set to get worse. Transport investments are one of the best tools at our disposal to improve the productivity of our cities, improve job opportunities and access to labour, and spur innovation. To fix the issue requires conviction from central government and, critically, investment.
Then, perhaps, I can stop writing about buses, and go back to running my local trails.
food fitness flora 