Don’t let the DfT piper call the tune
No, minister
Have you seen this letter?
It is from the Department for Transport and it is instructing bus companies and local authorities to talk to each other about planning their Covid-era bus networks.
Innocuous enough, yes?
Well, maybe. But it’s also sinister.
After all, after decades in which it was assumed that bus operators and local authorities would talk to each other (and some did so brilliantly, others hardly at all), suddenly DfT is issuing instructions.
Why?
Because Covid has caused a collapse in usage, so DfT is paying.
And, as the old adage goes, “he who pays the piper calls the tune”.
This is, by the way, one of the worst ideas ever invented.
The person who calls the tune should be the person who knows the best music. Where the money comes from is irrelevant.
One of the main reasons why America has long produced more successful startups than anywhere else on Earth is because the Silicon Valley culture is to prevent investors having controls that, in Europe, automatically come with ownership.
Facebook, Amazon, Google and many other world-famous names are founder dictatorships. Why did investors stand for it? Well, actually, they encouraged it. It was their idea. Silicon Valley investors deliberately write out their controls from investment deals. Why? Because they realise that the person with the money isn’t necessarily the person best placed to make decisions and that if they have the right, they’ll end up using it.
Why do I mention this now? Because the letter from DfT is an early warning (a canary in the coal mine) that, as Government ends up paying more, they will also seek to control more.
And we know where this leads.
Those of us who’ve spent time in rail know the extraordinary degree of direct control now undertaken by civil servants. Fares, times, rolling stock, even seat colour are now Whitehall decisions. Control has been a one-way street being passed up to Government for the entire duration of my career to date.
The bus sector must not allow itself to end up in the same place.
It is clear that a certain amount of Government support is going to be required in the short term if the bus network is going to maintain the level of service that society wants.
But the Government needs to be reminded that paying the piper doesn’t confer great musical wisdom.
Like all decisions, decisions on buses should be made by those closest to the customer.
