Produced by Steel Bank Film Co-Op for the Sheffield Bus Campaign a documentary made to defend bus transport in Sheffield against the government's Transport Bill which aimed to deregulate and privatise public bus transport throughout Britain by October 1986. The film shows both the chaotic reality of the pilot scheme in Hereford on which the Bill is based, and the massive support for South Yorkshire's long-established, progressive transport policies and cheap fares. A South...

Produced by Steel Bank Film Co-Op for the Sheffield Bus Campaign a documentary made to defend bus transport in Sheffield against the government's Transport Bill which aimed to deregulate and privatise public bus transport throughout Britain by October 1986. The film shows both the chaotic reality of the pilot scheme in Hereford on which the Bill is based, and the massive support for South Yorkshire's long-established, progressive transport policies and cheap fares. A South Yorkshire Transport double-decker bus appears from a bus wash. Title: The Road to Ruin! South Yorkshire Transport. A Service that Works To a cover version of The Who’s ‘Magic Bus’ various South Yorkshire Transport buses travelling though the centre of Sheffield. Title: South Yorkshire Transport. A Service that Works At a bus stop an inspector watches as passengers board before the bus departs. A small girl is asked how much it costs her to travel by bus, she replied 2p which she thinks is a good fare to pay. She goes onto say her mother only pays 5p and uses the buses a lot. Onboard a bus a conductor collects fares from passengers. Title: Fare level in South Yorkshire. Most adult journeys 5-10p. Most children’s journeys 2p At another stop more passengers board a double-decker bus and find a seat with the conductor continuing to collect fares. An older woman sitting near the front of the bus. Title: Pensioners travel free at off-peak times As pensioners onboard a bus they show the conductor their passes, one older man gives his opinion on the service and provides details on why he thinks it’s a good thing. A young couple from Loughborough are asked about the bus service in their town, they complain about the poor service and high fares. As they provide more details another South Yorkshire Transport bus pulls up at a stop and passengers disembark. Title: Passenger levels since 1974. South Yorkshire up 7%. Rest of Britain down 30% Over a montage of buses coming and going from various stops around David Blunkett Leader of Sheffield City Council explains that he uses the bus every day and hears people explain how valuable it is as a service. A vox pop follows with people giving their opinion on the service which they see as reliable and value for money. Title: The Government’s Plans for Transport Over another montage of buses travelling around the centre of Sheffield, a female narrator explains in voiceover how the Conservative governments has plans to raise fares by 4-5%, cut the number of buses on the road by half and send standards of safety and reliability out of the window. She goes into details about how they intend to do this by firstly abolishing South Yorkshire County Council. A graph shows the hierarchy within county council between the ratepayers and the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. The graph changes to one showing how from April 1986 this would change to a transport joint board under the thumb of central government through the Secretary of State for Transport. Overlooking a bus station below Peter Sephton Commercial Director of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive explains that the best public transport in Great Britain has always been controlled by local authorities, he explains why. A vox pop with local people who don’t understand why central government should interfere with local bus services. With another bus passing the narrator explains the second way central government will attack bus services is through the Rates Act. She explains from April 1985 it will be the Conservative government who will decide how much money local councils can raise through their rates. Statistics are provided to show that a gap of £27 million will be left in the South Yorkshire budget for 1985/86 meaning cheap bus fares will be under threat. David Blunkett explains the Rates Act will mean decision on fares will be taken away and given to the Secretary of State. He goes on to be critical of the new Joint Board to replace the county council and provides details of what is being done as a city council to ensure democracy prevails. An older gentleman spoken to earlier in the film who had high praise for the current service explains along with his wife that he would be happy to pay an additional 50p a week on his rates to be able to use his buses. In voiceover the narrator explains the greatest blow to public transport comes from The Transport Bill. A portrait photograph of Nicholas Ridley, Secretary of State for Transport and a quote he gave about the bill. Title: It will bring the opportunity for lower fares, new services, more passengers and better value for money for the ratepayer and the taxpayer.” From a stage Steve Womack from the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) and Chairperson for the Sheffield Bus Campaign speaks to an audience saying the bill is not designed to improve public transport but to destroy it and line the pockets of the comrades of the Tory party, the cowboys and pirate operators. He reads from a pamphlet providing details of the positive work currently being done to provide a cheap and reliable bus service, he asks how the Tories can improve on that. As a bus travels along a road it passes a man walking with crutches. In voiceover the narrator provides details of the three principles behind the bill: competition, privatisation and deregulation of the transport system. Steve Womack talks about the possible consequence of deregulation as it would allow potentially anyone to operate a vehicle as a bus and be considered a public service. Title: Hereford Trial Area In the market town of Hereford where a government experiment in deregulation has taken place, a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Transport explains that while initially new services were introduced, and fares were lower it was not to last. As Councillor Short who is Leader of Hereford City Council provides details why deregulation has been a disaster for the town a montage buses from a variety of companies travelling around the town. A handwritten note in the window of one bus telling passengers fares are to increase. Gordon Worthing and Roy Prince, two drivers for the national bus company Midland Red, explains the issues passenger have with timetabling. Roy Prince believes that in the eyes of the public the experience has been a success because they notice more buses running. However, he believes it can’t go for much longer as it is ‘a charter for bankruptcy’. Roy talks about operators simply disappearing without giving the statutory 42 days’ notice, he gives an example of one operator Davies who were taken to court due to their lack of notice. Over then following title card passengers sitting aboard buses waiting to depart a stop. Title: Davies pulled out of Hereford altogether on 20th February 1985 Tony Andrews Maintenance Worker for Midland Red explains how one operator was doing maintenance in a layby on the side of a road for 18 months before the Ministry caught up with him. He talks about how this operator had been taken to court as one of his vehicles have had identified eighteen defects but was still carrying passengers. Using a pen Tony marks out the defects on a series of buses featured in photographs taken around Hereford. A phantom car ride past a farm shed inside which a bus is being serviced, outside others waiting to be looked at. Returning to Roy Prince, he says it is diabolical what is happening in Herford as well as the pressure and aggravation his own drivers are getting. As Tony Andrews and a young man in the Midland Red garage works on maintaining a bus Gerry Phillips, another Maintenance Worker for Midland Red, explains that they are having to do the same amount of work on less money and doing overtime for no additional wages. He goes onto explain that the choice he and his colleagues had was to accept the longer hours of lower rates of pay of be out of work. Peter Fry Conservative MP for Wellingborough explains how competition has improved the services of Midland Red, however there would be challenges of exporting the experiment in Hereford to rest of the country especially in urban areas such as Sheffield. Title: “Nowhere in the market as large as ours has these ideas been tested and this does mean there is a high degree of risk attached to them.” Select Committee report on the Transport Bill Back in Sheffield a double-decker bus is driven into a maintenance workshop and over a vehicle inspection pit. Title: Sheffield. What will happen to safety? As the camera travels through the workshop it passes several South Yorkshire Transport buses being worked on my engineers and maintenance workers. In voiceover Steve Womack explains how Sheffield currently has excellent safety and maintenance facilities, but he is concerned that with de-regulation these standards would be reduced as operators would have the same kind of poor facilities as has been the case in Hereford. As Alan Whitehead, a Bus Engineer at South Yorkshire Transport explains that they have 1000 vehicles that need continuous services and checks to be carried out on them, two of his colleagues carrying out a bus break safety test. From a vehicle inspection pit Melvyn Boyle conducts an inspection of a bus chassis. He is asked if private operators are going to be operating more dangerous buses? He believes so as they can’t afford the costs of taking vehicles off the road. In another part of the workshop engineers and apprentices at work with Alan Whitehead talking about the importance of the training school and taking on as many apprentices as possible, again something he believes private operator couldn’t do to the same standard. Another engineer Darryl Thomson explains how bus manufactures come to Sheffield as if they can get a bus running here with all its hills, they can do so elsewhere in the country. A phantom bus ride through a Sheffield suburb with driver Peter Wood explaining his biggest fear with de-regulation is safety. He is concerned for potential accidents due to poor bus maintenance especially on the cities hilly landscape. Passengers disembarking from a double decker bus. Title: What will happen to the service? Steve Womack explains that when rate capping comes into effect the amount of cash given to transport will disappear. The only way to increase funds is through rises in fares which, in turn, will see the number of passengers drop and services begin to deteriorate. Peter Sephton explains that the Transport Bill could turn out to be complete chaos with companies putting profit before public service and thousands of loss-making journeys being abandoned. As passengers race to catch their bus, he explains how he believes South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive has a professional obligation to provide a service that the bill will force them away from these ideals. A vox pop with some of those featured previously praising South Yorkshire Transport asking them what they would do if the Transport Bill became law? Everyone is critical of it. Gerry Lee the President of Market Traders in Sheffield is concerned that buses will only operate during peak times, he explains that many of his customers travel into and out of the city centre outside this period when bus numbers could be reduced. As he talks people standing at various bus stops around the city centre. A female teacher at a local deaf school provides details on the long journeys some of her pupils must undertake which could become more challenging due to the new bill. As she speaks children climb off a bus parked outside their school. Still driving his bus Peter Wood talks about providing a service to shift-workers needing to get to and from work outside peak hours. He believes it would become more challenging to them as services would be cut. A montage of cars travelling into and out of Sheffield followed by buses travelling past stops. At a city centre car park vehicles arriving at a barrier. In voiceover Alan Whitehead talks about his concern with increased traffic congestions when people are forced to use cars rather than take a bus. He is also concerned with the lack of parking spaces in the city centre. Bus Worker Anne Hayes wants to ask the government why is profit is the only end for any undertaking in this country? She explains that when profit is the only thing that matters standard of living go down, jobs are lost and it is no longer a right to have access to public services such as transport and health, only if you have the money for it. Onboard a bus a female conductor places her ticket machine over her shoulder before it departs from a stand. Title: What will happen to jobs? Steve Womack believes if subsidies are slashed then the effect on jobs in South Yorkshire Transport would be horrific. Bus Worker Norman Sennet believes if fares continue to rise then at least half the drivers like him will be out of work. Sitting nearby two of his colleagues also express their concerns about job losses. In a South Yorkshire Transport canteen catering staff working to prepare meals changes to a driver appears at a window to collect his farebox and be given details about his route. In the maintenance workshop again a man is cleaning a double-decker bus, in voice-over Alan Whitehead talks about how they are all working to try and keep their job. The bus being driven by Peter Wood drives past a steelworks with two large cooling towers, in voiceover he explains that as bus companies are buying fewer buses this would affect the Sheffield steelworks who provide the steel for said new buses. Title: The Bus Campaign A series of double-decker buses travel along a road in the centre of Sheffield with the narrator asking is there anything that can be done to stop the Transport Bill? Steve Womack believes it is public opinion that is going to be of most importance in getting the government to stop the bill moving forward. A vox pop with people on the street who all support the campaign and believe people should speak out. A montage of pedestrians walking through the centre of Sheffield with the narrator providing details on what the viewer can do to stop the Transport Bill. Parked in the city centre a South Yorkshire Transport ‘Road Show’ double decker bus with pedestrians getting onboard to have a look around. Final comments are provided by Norman Sennet and Anne Hayes who believe that as the Transport Bill will affect the whole country, bus companies need to ‘co-ordinate and contact’ so they aren’t picked off in an isolated fashion. Still speaking from the podium at a rally, Steve Womack talks about the importance if unifying and holding national one-day stoppages. The crowd applauded as he walks away. A final montage of buses travelling though Sheffield inter-cut with some of the passengers being interviewed providing details on what needs to be done to save the current transport system. Intercut into the closing titles and credits a series of child’s poster for the Sheffield Bus Campaign. Title: If you want to fight the Transport Bill, contact Sheffield Bus Campaign, c/o 11a Arundel Gate Sheffield. Telephone Sheffield 78688 For national details contact Public Transport Information Unit, 308 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1 8DY. Telephone 01-278 7801 ext 42 or 50 People interviewed in Hereford Peter Fry, Councillor Short, Gordon Worthing, Roy Prince, Hugh Rochard, Tony Andrews, Gerry Phillips In Sheffield David Blunkett, Peter Wood, Peter Sephton, Anne Hayes, Steve Womack, Abdul Khayum, Alan Whitehead, Norman Sennet, Melvyn Boyle, Miranda Atherton, Darryl Thomson, Gerry Lee and city-centre shoppers Thanks to: South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, National Bus Company (Midland Red), Greenland Road Garage, Central Works, Leadmill Road Lost Property Office, Bob Adlington… and many bus workers Thanks to: Sheffield Film Co-op, Sheffield City Polytechnic Education Service TV Unit, Televideo Productions and Sheffield Independent Film Group Credit: Script and Production Pete Biddle Sound Recordist Simon Reynell Director Dinah Ward Camera and Editor Jessica York End title: Made for Sheffield Bus Campaign © 1985 by Steel Bank Film Co-op. Financed by Sheffield City Council Employment Department The film ends on a final montage of children’s ‘Save Your Bus’ posters.