Manchester bus franchising

[Barney]

RE: Manchester bus franchising

(21/02/2023 13:23)EDB325 Wrote:  Back in 1998, when I was a taxi trade representative in Trafford, I attended the National Taxi Association's AGM. The main presentation and discussions were on the Green Paper on integrated public transport.

25 years later very little has changed in any sector of the industry, and what change HAS occurred has not brought about one iota of improvement.

It's obviously the general blame will be placed on politicians, but over the subsequent years it became obvious that the REAL source of the problems was actually the civil servants charged with introducing the proposed changes.

Add to that the fact that the Minister of Transport (or whatever title that person holds this year) is replaced with increasing frequency by somebody else who knows sod all about public transport.

Andy Burnham has his vision, some of it is good in theory, little of it will work in practice. This is due partially to the cost of implementation (and its impact on all our pockets), but it's also very much down to the persistent incompetence of the public servants who are paid to make the plans reality.

Look at public transport in other major countries, and the positives of Government positivity are clear to see. Look at ours, and it's been a shambles for years because our government merely pays lip service to the concept.

I totally agree with you that far too often the position of the Secretary of State for Transport is a short-term one - there have been three since last September - and it would be refreshing to see someone in office who has a genuine interest and understanding of the brief.

As you have conceded, Andy Burnham does have a vision and will attempt to implement it thanks to the 2017 legislation but I am not sure its ultimate success of failure will be down to the "persistent incompetence of the public servants". Who are these people? Name names.

Yes, absolutely, the whole public transport set-up in the UK is an embarrassing shambles. The reason for this is because successive UK governments refuse to acknowledge the fact that you have to fund and finance it from the public purse. On continental Europe, bus operation is either under state control of has the franchising model. Why can't it exist in the UK?