Preston: Final Chapter?

It’s somehow surprising that the Preston bus war is still in *full* swing—albeit with mitigation agreed between the protagonists, Lancashire council and the traffic commissioner. After all, both operators seem to struggle to keep their head above water. With Preston Bus retaining the lion’s share on routes the subject of competition (the service 3 excepted), Stagecoach is believed to be running at a loss. And Preston Bus has lost revenue, too, the results of which are reductions in marginal mileage.

There are a number of reasons why Stagecoach is ‘having a go’ at Preston Bus, none of which is official and none is ever commented upon by the two players. The first is a belief that Stagecoach wished to buy Preston Bus, even though Preston Bus was never for sale. Perhaps Stagecoach felt that it was time to force that sale. There’s no doubt that Preston Bus is weakened as a result but as yet not sufficiently so for it to buckle.



Then there was possible francophobia. Would Transdev’s advances elsewhere in Lancashire extend to Les Françaises buying Preston Bus? We’re not sure whether it was ever a real possibility beyond the rumour stage. If true, Stagecoach’s move would be justified as ‘the best form of defence is attack’. A protectionist position in the face of a strong newcomer.

Perhaps the most plausible view is that Stagecoach’s Preston depot was allegedly perhaps under-performing and that competition (which started in a low level sort of way with the upping of the 2s to Longridge via Ribbleton back in 2005, remember), was a means to an improvement end.

In accordance with the traffic commissioner’s ruling, both operators have now published on their respective web pages their joint code of conduct. This is more-or-less the extent of the traffic commissioner’s action. We will never know fully what went on behind the closed doors of the public inquiry. One thing we can assume, though, is that Stagecoach will have defended vigorously its right to run commercial buses under competition law. To lose that battle would have set a precedent throughout the industry. With no real evidence of gross breaches in public safety, the traffic commissioner was unable to take any further action, in the light of competition law. These issues also came to the fore during the Arriva/Chester City Council court case.

Which means, of course, that the battle of Preston goes on. How sustainable that will be in the longer term remains an area of immense speculation.

i Additional information and picture by Omnibuses 2.0’s Northern Correspondent