Topsy-turvy 2009

It’s been a topsy-turvy year. How so?

1. Old enmities surfaced upon the publication of a report by West Yorkshire ITA on quality contracts. This is a recipe for conflict.
2. Old sparring partners found common ground with then publication of eight statements of intent designed to bring operators and PTEs together in voluntary partnerships.


3. The bus & coach manufacturing sector faced the biggest drop in orders in recent memory, following several boom years, with either the threat of or actual redundancies.
4. Some operators remained buoyant in their orders, with Stagecoach for example investing in 50 new vehicles for its Cambridge Citi network as, with other orders, Stagecoach invests £10mil in the 12 months to November 2009.


5. Concessionary travel reimbursements continue to worry operators throughout the industry, as the market becomes distorted as commercial services become marginal; and marginal services become loss-making, as operators transport passengers at a fraction of the true cost or fare.
6. Older people seem quite content to spend on coach holidays and, for those operators prepared to invest in properly targeted products, this key segment still seems a rich seem.


7. The competition authorities again have the knives out for the industry, with their market study, Cardiff Bus ruling and in ordering Stagecoach to divest in Preston.
8. They recognise that Eastbourne under Stagecoach wasn’t such an anti-competitive move, after all.


9. The recession forces operators far and wide to re-evaluate networks. Not even Blazefield is immune. First Bus is at the forefront of major cutbacks across its empire, the result of static growth and rail decline.
10. Yet, First Devon & Cornwall bucks the trend in Plymouth (with Ugobus Phase 3, in response to the sale of Plymouth Citybus) but sees swinging cutbacks in Cornwall.


11. National Express went phut, thanks to the east coast rail line, divesting of a bus business, with the promise of more to come, though the express coach network remained static if uninspiring.
12. First, on the other hand launched the very much inspiring Greyhound, to profit from a resurgence in budget travel.