Personal attitudes have been the biggest barrier to bus partnerships

A public transport executive, with 15 years in the private sector and 25 in the public sector, reveals the ‘uncomfortable truth’ about why there are so few successful bus partnerships

Bus partnerships do not always run smoothly. All smiles in May 2007 at the signing of the Sheffield Bus Agreement between FirstGroup, Sheffield City Council and SYPTE (pictured), but less than two years later the deal was in tatters

Bus partnerships do not always run smoothly. All smiles in May 2007 at the signing of the Sheffield Bus Agreement between FirstGroup, Sheffield City Council and SYPTE (pictured), but less than two years later the deal was in tatters

For over 15 years the subject of achieving partnership working in one form or another between local authorities and bus operators has been a high profile and problematic issue. One would be hard pressed to find someone who would stand up and say they don’t believe that more can be achieved by operators and councils working together, rather than each ploughing their own separate furrows. So why has achieving successful partnership proved so elusive?

For any partnership, be it personal or...