Preston Bus to Sell?

You don’t expect real news between Christmas and New Year. The exception that proves the rule is the report from Preston that the only employee-owned bus company in England is ready to sell—to rival Stagecoach.

It’s understood that Preston Bus rebuffed Stagecoach ahead of the current bus war. Now, a full meeting of Preston Bus’ shareholders in January could seal its fate.

Preston has been the scene of one of the most bitter bus wars of the last period of 1985 Transport Act deregulation. Claim and counter claim brought incumbent Preston Bus and interloper Stagecoach before the traffic commissioner, who accepted a county council-inspired code of practice rather than see deregulation scrutinised further.

There will be much gnashing of teeth on the streets of Preston today. Its townspeople retain a clear link with the privatised-since-1993 former municipal.

But are some of the likely claims plausible? The first will be that fares will increase. No doubt in time Stagecoach’s fares will, but Preston Bus’ are already largely ahead of Stagecoach’s anyway. Whatever happens to walk on fares, expect weekly and other season tickets to remain good value.

A second will be the creation of an unhealthy monopoly. It will be very interesting to see what the competition authorities make of the Preston sale. Stagecoach has always been scrutinised more than most, in the past perhaps with some good reason, though recently Stagecoach has escaped more lightly. At Preston, will the microscope come out again? But in terms of creating a monopoly, let’s not forget that till recently, Prestonians already had one—under Preston Bus.

Another claim will be cuts in service and therefore job losses. This looks inevitable. Mind you, Preston Bus has already cut marginal mileage in the face of the competition. A number of corridors continue as vastly over-bussed, with two companies simply weakening each other. People who live at the outer termini already complain about over-busing. Then again, this was hardly Preston Bus’ fault. Preston Bus has retained a frequent service before and during Stagecoach’s competition. Preston Bus operated largely commercially for 18 hours a day and at reasonable fares, albeit higher than at Stagecoach. Sunday and evening services may therefore suffer (Stagecoach comes off earlier than Preston Bus).

What the buyout will do is introduce some stability. There are also management efficiencies to be had in a joint operation. This is what happened in Chester. This action may nevertheless leave a slightly bitter taste in the mouth in Prestonians. Was competition necessary against a service that operated largely commercially throughout? And charged reasonable fares? And was at last investing in new vehicles? There will be those who accuse Stagecoach of not getting what it wanted initially and then bullying Preston Bus. But remember also Stagecoach’s record in marketing, innovation and growing the market. And remember, too, the trends over the last four years in consolidation as a necessary step in terms of sustainability.

Photos: Omnibuses2.0's Northern Corespondent