On the face of it, the similarity between the pre-Transdev Yellow Buses Bournemouth & Blackburn Transport and municipally owned Chesterbus was the desire by the respective municipal owners to secure each’s future and see investment.
In practice, the difference at Chester may be marked. Investment at Chesterbus might be considered essential, whereas at Bournemouth and Blackburn it was simply desirable. Blackburn and Yellow Buses had their problems but were not beset by them. Is Chesterbus in a different position? Here are some reflections. We would welcome any corrective views.
Is the concentration on peak work inflating the PVR without making an adequate return? The fleet has almost doubled in the years since deregulation to over 80, yet Chesterbus requires only some 20 to operate daylight, weekday commercial services, plus 12 for P&R.
Does an average fleet age of 14 years, something like double the national average, come with an unacceptably high engineering overhead?
In trumping both First & Arriva to scoop a monopoly on the Chester Park & Rides, has Chesterbus missed a life-line by relying on low cost, low entry – and some would say troublesome – BMC Falcons?
Will commercial services grow sufficiently with a reliance on a high proportion of non-SLF stock? The number of non-P&R SLFs is only a quarter of the fleet.
Have Chesterbus’ four unusual all-Marshall minibuses (inlcuding two second-hand from London General) seen more than their fair share of difficulties?
Did the Chester City Transport decision to withdraw from the Saltney corridor, upon the cessation of South Lancs Transport, effectively give lucrative Lache to First?
Is Chester too wealthy a city for some of its bus services? Parts of the city are very well off – in terms of personal wealth *and* bus frequencies.
To what extent is an outdated depot, from 1878, a millstone around Chesterbus’ corporate neck?
On the positive side, Chesterbus sits on a depot site within an arc of land ripe for development. The former tram garage is therefore of immense value to the city council. The city council has recently won a grant of £1.4mil to invest in the rail station and surrounding areas.
Whether or not Arriva has a role in securing future Chester services, investment and staff remains a decision of the court. There are others who have worked what appear to be miracles recently on former down-at-heel local networks & operations; the task at Chester may be more challenging but it will also be the more rewarding for it.
i Additional information & photo by Omnibuses’ Northern Correspondent
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Chesterbus
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Chester is interesting in it's own right I suppose, but how about a national story?
The story the media either haven't grasped, or won't print...
The real scandal, unknown to most passengers, and certainly not being publicised by the councils, is that the much trumpeted concessionary fare schemes are being grossly underfunded.
Under devolved powers, but funded by all of the UK (including English taxpayers), for each concessionary free journey the bus company gets, I think, 67p...This isn't that much for a long trip, but at least it's a guaranteed income.
In a fit of meanness against English passengers our PM and Chancellor have again colluded in fraud...they have grossly under-estimated the increased take-up of passes, particularly by OAPs, (especially in the largely conservative South-East) and thus their contribution to the councils who organise the scheme is insufficient. There is no fixed rate. Instead "guidelines" and suggested formulae have been recommended.
To make matters worse the councils involved often haven't had the funding to increase their support to a reasonable level...worst still, unbelievably, the government didn't "ring-fence" the money intended for concessionary BUS travel.
In Greater Manchester, for example, local councillors plundered the funds to extend the scheme to trains and local trams (whereas the government had indicated this shouldn't happen).
The local bus company then appealed against the scheme and won. In response GMPTE has then added insult to injury by dictating increased child fares and publicly through the media blaming these increases on "greedy" bus operators.
In some other areas councils have shamelessly looted bus users funds for all sorts of other purposes.
To be fair, most councils seem to have been fair and upfront (which is sadly more than you can say for the government).
Please bear in mind that the increases in concessionary travel are on some routes, well over 100% against a council estimate of 25-30%...(130% isn't unknown and the numbers are still climbing).
The net result is that the councils are continuously diluting the cash subsidy per traveller on the dubious pemise that if extra travel is generated then the bus companies shouldn't benefit from it - there IS no more money they are told so the funds in the coffers are "capped"...can you imagine your corner shop being compelled to give away goods to customers for nothing, then being told that the already inadequate compensation was being reduced still further because the scheme was too successful (or use plumbers or builders or whoever as an analogy if you prefer)..
Most traders or professionals would tell them where to go or fold, but the bus companies don't have this option - they are compelled to take part in the ticket scheme, but denied adequate funds to run it.
Many companies have appealed against the inadequate funding and have won their cases - the "capping" of the schemes has been judged legally to be inappropriate" yet the (independent?) adjudicators appointed by the government haven't ordered anyone to put things right - just said the companies and the councils should "talk together again". These judgements have typically been accompanied by a warning that the appeal results "will not be publicly announced"
So, effectively thousands of pensioners are being carried for nothing, nix, b***** all, while the government and councils come up smelling of roses. Fear that this is going to impact on their pay and conditions is why so many bus drivers are hostile towards pass-holders...
There is worse to come I'm sure but for what it's worth this is the real truth that you won't hear elsewhere...
Scandalous do I hear? I'm NOT really a political animal but...nonetheless would have to say that it's just soviet democracy at work again...
Sorry - the fourth para should read:-
"Under devolved powers, but funded by all of the UK (including English taxpayers), for each Scottish or Welsh" concessionary free journey made, the bus company gets, I think, 67p...This isn't that much for a long trip, but at least it's a guaranteed income."
I can only claim lateness and fatigue as excuses!
These comments of Cogidubnus’ on the seriousness of the concessionary travel situation makes today’s post on NATIONAL seem somewhat frivolous! I had intended commenting particularly on the Manchester situation – and the victory of operators in appealing – but something (I cannot now remember what) got in the way.
Thanks to Cogidubnus for these views.
Any chance you could cut and paste the corrected third para in, and also insert the missing "r" into "premise" in the third line of para 12?
Cheers!
Cogidubnus, regret the only editorial control I have over comments is whether to keep or delete them. (I don't think I have ever deleted a third party comment, though I have one of my own, as it was a duplicate).
ah well, my sad ego will, no doubt, allow me to believe, (say in five years time that I once wrote a perceptive comment in faultless style. Only your good-selves will, perhaps, remember that I slightly fluffed it in the perfection stakes...oops...there went that ego (or was it super-ego or even id) again...
Post a Comment