I spotted on X that that CPT held their 2024 conference this week. Two documents of note to come out of it: 

• CPT Bus Manifesto 2024
  
• CPT Coach Manifesto 2024
  

The bus one is interesting, but a lot of it isn't exactly a surprise. "Give us lots of money" seems to be the main cry, with a call for a five year funding settlement. The rationale behind that one is that they'll invest in new vehicles and services, which sounds like an expectation that public money will pay for their business to survive, but they'll cream a % off the top for shareholders.

There's also a demand in for "A new statutory, funded definition of essential bus services", which doesn't seem an unreasonable ask on the surface, but in practice, I'm not sure how it'd work. There's the risk that if something is too black and white, operators could simply review all their services, and then chuck back anything that marginally meets the definition. Knowing that a LTA/ITA would have no option, other than to put the service out to tender, and they'd likely end up running it without any risk. 

I also disagree with the statement "Bus services which cannot be run on a commercial basis can be supported by councils". Shouldn't 'cannot be' be replaced with 'we won't'? 

The bit on recruitment is also interesting. What red tape are they referring to?

I've only glossed over the coach one, but I do agree with the ask to "Issue clear guidance to councils to include coach services in their local transport plans (LTPs)". To me, they should be treated in exactly the same way as express bus or train services, as good city link services. My only issue is that I don't think the coach industry does enough themselves. 

Coaches, especially in the North of England, can be infrequent or poorly timed, serve the same key points as trains, and can be difficult to find information on. Why not look at some of the Towns and Cities that are cut off or poorly served from the main rail network? Co. Durham has loads of examples, and you could also add Sunderland into that mix. Coach travel may be a more realistic prospect for those, when it cuts out a journey to/from Newcastle or Durham to catch the train.