COUNCILLORS in Sheffield have voted for bus services in South Yorkshire to be taken under public control.

The decision will need the support of the other three district councils in South Yorkshire — Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham — which make up the South Yorkshire Combined Authority headed by Mayor Dan Jarvis, who is also Labour MP for Barnsley Central.

The authority is also South Yorkshire’s transport authority, which has been criticised by bus campaigners for failing to activate a legal process to take public control of bus services.

If the plan succeeds, control will be removed from the hands of a small group of profit-driven private operators who currently decide which routes to cover, the level of fares and the standard of services.

The legal process for the combined authority to take public control of bus services will take six months.

Matthew Topham, a campaigner at Better Buses for South Yorkshire, said: “The announcement that Sheffield Council has backed up its support for public control with practical action and a clear timeframe is a huge step forward.

“For too long local buses have been about the balance sheets of the bus companies and not about providing the reliable, cheap and frequent network that our communities deserve.

“I hope that other councils across the region will stand up for their residents and demand that the process to bring our buses into public control begins immediately.”

Barnsley District Council votes on the issue on Thursday next week.

Bus campaigners will lobby the meeting and will present councillors with inflatable clocks to mark the ticking of the timetable towards taking public control.