As news comes in this morning from Plymothian Transit of an interestingly timed and possible £200,000 cut in council bus subsidies, we take a further look at possible Plymouth privatisation.
At first glance, the current Plymouth situation is somewhat like Bournemouth five years ago.
| Plymouth | Bournemouth | |
| The municipally owned operator is increasingly under attack on its core routes from "country" operator First Devon & Cornwall. The increased risks to the council ignited the latent & hitherto on-off debate about privatisation. The council has come clean and aims to test the market. | The municipally owned operator was increasingly under attack on its core routes from "country" operator Wilts & Dorset. The increased risks to the council ignited the latent & hitherto on-off debate about privatisation. The council eventually came clean and announced it would sell. |
But there are significant differences. One is the amount of public support for the status quo that, thus far, seems higher in Plymouth. This is perhaps a reaction against two buyers already linked in the public’s eye to Citybus: there’s a perception that quality and delivery let First down, making them less than ideal Citybus suitors. Then, there appears a distrust of former Plympton Coachways’ proprietor and part-purchaser of the privatised Western National John Preece. Contrast this with Bournemouth. The public was ambivalent about W&D and towards Excelsior Coaches’ Ken Robbins
Another difference is that Citybus continues to grow its market and seems to be responding well under competition. Citybus seems to have the lion’s share and is reported as doing well where Citybus has stepped in following reductions by First.
Yellow Buses on the other hand was struggling under the weight and quality of W&D competition and, before that, had previously been losing three per cent of its passengers per annum.
Citing 20 per cent increases year-on-year since Bournemouth sold its operator, Plymouth council uses Bournemouth (among others) as a good example of a recent successful sale. There’s no denying considerable Bournemouth growth but would this be replicated in Plymouth? Most obviously, the old Bournemouth started from a lower (and declining) base. The resultant improvements were easily marketed. Citybus could do something similar now, without being privatised but there’s less need.
Secondly, Transdev Yellow Buses’ new network had a crack at the Bournemouth-Poole corridor. Rich pickings and even though W&D presence is significant, TYB’s numbers are still important. Its deckers help during the June/July peak.
Thirdly, TYB’s new network coincided with local then national free travel. Bournemouth is more of a honey-pot than Plymouth and this could actually be a medium term business risk for TYB.
Fourthly, growth was pre-recession. Things are flattening off in most places at the moment, whoever operates.
What the initial Plymouth council report fails to say was that the Bournemouth sale was anything but smooth, being probably the most difficult municipal sale ever.
The same was true of the Chesterbus sale. The Plymouth report uses Chester to warn of the destabilising threat of competition that could happen in Plymouth which, in Chester’s case, surely *followed* an announcement of a sale...
i Plymothian Transit is keeping a watching brief on the possible Citybus sale
4 comments:
I think that the Chester sale should be a warning to all local councils. There, two national operators came in - one registered competitively against CCT, the other took it over. The service now is, in my view, much worse than it was before and the potential value of the assets was not realised by the council.
"The municipally owned operator is increasingly under attack on its core routes from "country" operator First Devon & Cornwall."
I don't think this is quite how things are in reality. There is very little competition between operators in Plymouth, other than for subsidised services. It would be fair to say there is no competition at all on either Citybus' or First Devon & Cornwall's core services in Plymouth.
Citybus do a fair job, have a smart fleet and are as popular as a bus company could reasonably expect to be. Their supposed competitor, First, and their local suitor, in the form of Mr Preece, are both very unpopular.
"The increased risks to the council ignited the latent & hitherto on-off debate about privatisation."
This is a political decision. Citybus pays a dividend to the Council, it is not an increased risk.
A new owner would surely make an investment in the fleet and engage in competition with First more so than previous, but the only people in Plymouth acting as if privatisation is urgent and of great value are the Council.
I hear that First are in the process of merging their south coast operations. Is this true ? If so, given the probable reduction in support staff and general muddle that usually accompanies these events, would this be a good time to stretch resources even further ?
"I hear that First are in the process of merging their south coast operations. Is this true ?"
I certainly hear much about both the (somewhat belated in the view of many) centralisation of their accounts department...and some about loads of redundancies on the Traffic/Operations side in Hampshire...
So yes it might be...
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