The new mayor of York and North Yorkshire says he may not follow his fellow Labour mayors elsewhere in the region by moving to take local bus services under public control. Marking 100 days since he was elected, David Skaith said the amount of rural space in his patch meant the bus franchising idea first adopted in Greater Manchester may not work locally. Read more: 'If everywhere built as many homes as Leeds, there'd be no housing crisis' Speaking to The Northern Agenda political podcast , he said "nothing's off the cards" in terms of how to improve bus services but that his team had only just started the process of deciding which approach to take.
His fellow newly-elected Labour mayor, Kim McGuinness, started the process towards franchising on her first day after being elected in the North East. West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin has formally decided to adopt franchising - where control of routes and ticketing is taken away from private bus firms and handed to public officials - and South Yorkshire's Oliver Coppard appears likely to follow suit. Buses, houses and whether he'd stand up to Starmer: David Skaith talks about his first 100 days as mayor on the Northern Agenda podcast.
Listen here . The new Labour government has promised to make it easier for metro mayors to take buses under public control as a way of reversing decades of declining services. The problem is thought to be particularly acute away from the big urban centres.
But Mr Skaith said he didn't know if a fran.