According to Andy Burham, Mayor of Manchester all public transport should be devolved and the current “top down” approach hasn’t worked.
Speaking at the cross-party Transport Select Committee’s inquiry into strategic transport objectives alongside Transport for the North chief executive Martin Tugwell, Mr Burnham said that trying to run it all top down “hasn’t worked”
Burnham said: “I think the main policy that needs to be sort of baked into the mindset of transport at every level, is devolution by default.
“You start with devolution because transport is something that should be built from the bottom up. I think trying to run it all top down as we've done hasn't worked.”
He went on to advocate for buses to be a devolved area of government and said the same principle should be applied to railways.
“What's the best-performing rail operator in the country? It's Merseyrail. And I think that is linked to the fact that it is more locally accountable. There is somebody to complain to if that service is not performing everyday, someone who's democratically accountable to people,” Burnham continued.
“I think the main policy that needs to be sort of baked into the mindset of transport at every level, is devolution by default.
“You start with devolution because transport is something that should be built from the bottom up. I think trying to run it all top down as we've done hasn't worked.”