I opened the Competition Commission’s final Market Investigation report online and scrolled to the very end to get a feel for the size of it. Only 134 pages, eh? That’s most unexpected, I thought. Strangely thin. Double sided with two pages on a side and that meant only 34 sheets of A4. So I decided to print four copies for colleagues as well as one for me… only to find I was deluded and that it was section 15 with 134 pages and not the entire 500-plus page document. Which meant I had about six inches of A5 and I jammed the printer/copier in the process.
Still, there’s some rather pretty maps within. 
It wasn’t just operators who had to submit evidence: local transport authorities did, too. It seemed that there was no compulsion on their part... white indicates no data received
I suppose I need to mention the Competition Commission’s report. I don’t really want to but for the fact that I feel I need to. There was little of surprise because it hasn’t really changed since the interim report. It’s fleshed out, of course, as I found to my cost for being so unobservant with the pagination. And had it not been for the excitement of managers in the north east caught with their metaphorical trousers down, then the whole process has been singularly dull.To think of the time I have personally spent on this project and the time of my colleagues. May be the industry should be grateful there’s nothing too sinister within in terms of change but it does seem like it’s taken a lot of time and effort to get to that point.
Aside from some single fares issues (as opposed to seasons), does the travelling public really perceive their bus service lets them down? There are vocal people who comment on web-based newspaper articles but they must be a minority because survey after survey demonstrates that most bus services, in most of England, most of the time are well received. And I’m not just talking about surveys undertaken independently by Passenger Focus. Every large operator will be engaging with its passenger base by interviewing and surveying and the cross-tabulated results are always on the optimistic side. Yes, they point to improvements but there’s nothing startlingly bad that’s within an operator’s direct control. Satisfaction guaranteed. Usually.
It’s now all down to how you want to interpret the report. We knew that franchising was out of the equation. I suppose the CC’s final response to franchising was a little unexpected when it stated that it wasn’t opposed in principle “if others such as local transport authorities decide to introduce [them] for their own good reasons”. So, the CC isn’t preventing the use of franchising. But this is no ringing endorsement of QCs either. Nexus PTE appears keen to press ahead, following the above mentioned north east excitement. For the Competition Commissions, though, more on-street competition is the answer.
But who will come forward? Where are these larger or smaller competitors likely to come from? Is competition in the average English bus market really sustainable? Isn’t the car the main competitor and why didn’t the CC recognise this? And why cannot an established business do what it needs to, to protect itself from “me too” copycats?
12 comments:
No data received from Dorset, the county that has alleged anti-competitive behaviour by two of the major bus groups and yet they choose not to influence the outcome of the CC investigation!
Why am I not surprised? DCC has proved itself incompetent throughout their tender process, to the extent that they discovered after the event that they were not legally able to limit future tenders to their so-called "partners", which was a major part of what they were trying to do!
fat bus bloke has posted a "take" on the CC report. A light hearted comment may offset the heaviness of "Busing's" download!
http://publictransportexperience.blogspot.com/2011/12/competition-commission-report.html
Nothing from Falkirk or West Lothian were a high number of people complain. Also Surprised at Lack of Northamptonshire, Durham and Northumbra where the "cough" trouble was for the lack of...
So basically CC finds there is a lack of competition (true), believes it results in higher prices than if there was competition (quite likely), has no idea what to do about it (me neither).
However, the usual industry mantra 'we compete with other modes so it doesn't matter that we don't compete with each other' is not true either. After all only last Saturday your guest blogger wrote of First Edinburgh's fares - 'really are at the top level of the scale'. In a competitive market it would be difficult to offer a standard (or inferior) product at an inflated price.
Oh well Happy Christmas everyone!
Rupert Glum.
"However, the usual industry mantra 'we compete with other modes so it doesn't matter that we don't compete with each other' is not true either. After all only last Saturday your guest blogger wrote of First Edinburgh's fares - 'really are at the top level of the scale'. In a competitive market it would be difficult to offer a standard (or inferior) product at an inflated price."
I don't quite agree. Lothian put massive effort into competing with other modes, as they should. As do many Stagecoach subsidiaries, to name but two examples.
This is just another case of First *getting it wrong*, and not really competing with anybody.
Neil
'This is just another case of First *getting it wrong*, and not really competing with anybody'
This is true, Neil; the problem is that they don't need to be enterprising to make a good living, because of the lack of competition. (Like a lot of small-town retailers before the rise of the supermarkets)
If you are lucky, you get to stay in Brighton or Newport or Edinburgh; if not in Bristol or Glasgow. It should not be a matter of luck.
RG
"This is true, Neil; the problem is that they don't need to be enterprising to make a good living, because of the lack of competition."
Not quite.
There is plenty of competition in every town - the car. There is no town in which the car does not dominate transport.
However, sometimes bus companies are happy to sit there and take advantage of the fact that there's enough business to keep them going at a tolerable level. That's laziness, and it can occur in any business at any level.
No, it's not cut-throat competition. But my local shop doesn't have cut-throat competition, either, nor do many other businesses.
Neil
"If you are lucky, you get to stay in Brighton or Newport or Edinburgh"
Brighton or Edinburgh maybe but Newport? Really? I tried to decipher the Newport network once with all its A's B's C's variations and gave up after half an hour as it was giving me a headache trying to work out what bus to catch, add the fact that there is no network map on their website hardly encouraging new users eh?
Perhaps you meant Cardiff rather than Newport or perhaps Nottingham? Both begin with N!
Even the North East 'issue' was basically two organisations using a bit of common sense rather than competing unnecessarily. If that's all they can find then there's not much to investigate!
Most complaints I hear seem to be about the cost of individual single fares but that can only apply to a minority of people as the majority will either have 'free' passes, or the operator's weekly/monthly ticket.
Also, people forget just how much everything else goes up in price (gas/electricity/rail fares etc) without seeing that the same pressures must affect bus fares.
"Perhaps you meant Cardiff rather than Newport or perhaps Nottingham? Both begin with N!"
Erm, Nardiff begins with a C!
Newport and Nottingham both begin with N!
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