Manchester bus franchising

[Mayneway]

RE: Manchester bus franchising

(28/01/2023 23:11)Barney Wrote:  Since 1986 - outside of London - no local authority has been allowed to regulate or plan a bus network; it has been left to the whims of individual operators.

TfGM, like every area/local authority, was only allowed to fill the gaps where the private operators deemed that the bus service would not generate a profit. Over time, the funding from central government for such services has been drastically cut from their budgets to the point where many have been withdrawn completely. That's why many areas in Manchester have been left with inadequate bus services.

The reason why TfGM has "a fixation" with the tram network is simply because it it is within its remit and powers to do so, something it can't do with bus operation until franchising is fully implemented.

I'm not too sure how you conclude that the regular bus user "will be forced to stump up more money to keep it going". Hasn't Manchester recently benefitted with the introduction of the maximum £2 fare?

If a local precept of a £1 per week per household is introduced to maintain the new network I'd say that that was a bargain.

As well as driving commercial bus services in Manchester I’ve also driven tendered services and have watched time and time again as TFGM have slashed much needed subsidised services or completely altered the timings so they no longer meet up with a commercial service so passengers were forced to wait 45 minutes in the evening for the next service.

A late evening service out of one town which carried some shift workers away from work had the times changed from 22:12 to 22:46, meaning the shift workers had a long wait (finishing at 22:00) or bought cars and drove.

The reality is they couldn’t run a teddy bears picnic and with the much expected mass exodus of drivers over the next few months leaving the industry for good it puts a pretty big question mark over it all.