QBP Liverpool and Wirral

[cumbria0902150]

RE: QBP Liverpool and Wirral

(20/10/2012 20:57)First Class Wrote:  The problem is that the likes of Stagecoach (and some other operators), will see no increase in revenue as a result of a higher investment into larger vehicles, because they know people will still cram on to the smaller, (and cheaper), vehicles they utilise.

Why do you think they had to introduce the 22/23 on the main section of the 20/21 corridor? People were getting particularly peeved at the lack of capacity throughout the day. If double deckers had been brought in, they wouldn't have needed the 22/23 capacity boost. At times, (usually Sundays or match days), the 130/210/250 buses were often full themselves when I used them. They already went from small single deckers (Darts) to larger single deckers (MAN) because capacity was not sufficient.

There is no incentive for Stagecoach to buy more expensive (larger) vehicles, because they have a fairly captive market who have no choice but to be on a cramped vehicle. The QBPs worsen this, because they just rely on Arriva to provide the additional capacity, without incurring any cost to themselves.

If a QBP has been introduced, it is because the demand for the routes warranted improvements. The reality of it is, Merseytravel had good intentions, but failed to deliver the improvements, and in some cases, made it worse through timetable rationalisation.

Bus passengers numbers continue to grow, but in most cases capacity does not rise at the same rate, and in some circumstances, is decreased.

You have to ask why Manchester seem to get a lot more investment in double decked vehicles, (despite having Metrolink etc), whilst Liverpool with very similar passenger numbers, have small single decks? Why did Stagecoach Merseyside get a handful of old double deckers, instead of brand new Deckers like other regions?

Stagecoach Merseyside and Stagecoach Manchester aren't really comparable. Stagecoach are not the main player in Merseyside (Arriva are), whereas they are in Manchester. Merseyside has a fleet size approx 160 whereas Manchester has a fleetsize approx 630. Stagecoach have had control in Manchester for 17 years now, while they've only had 7 years in Liverpool, 10 years less time to drive up revenue to cover the cost of larger vehicles. Manchester is the largest region outside of London, which is generally why it gets a lot of investment, but even then investment has slowed in recent years, although their large investment in Hybrid's for their busiest, most profitable corridor (with higher QBP standards than the Merseytravel schemes) will upgrade the fleet a lot. Newcastle is more comparable on a size basis, but even then, North East were the most profitable Stagecoach region last year, beating Manchester.

In the 7 years Stagecoach have had operations in Merseyside, they've invested in new vehicles to the value of approxmately £20million, that is a hell of a lot of investment in only 7 years. Yes, the large, 75 strong fleet of Darts in 2005/6 was a cheap, quick fix to replace a lot of the old Glenvale vehicles, but it still doesn't deter from the fact it was such a large, and much needed investment, increasing low floor provisions on quite a large scale. It is very rare for a region to get 75 brand new buses in the space of a year! There isn't an unlimited pot of cash to constantly upgrade the fleet, so investment will come when it is financially possible to. If there was an unlimited pot of cash, and figures on paper weren't important, I'm sure Manchester would have lost all of their S, T and X reg MAN ALX300's a very long time ago! In general 13% of Stagecoach Merseyside's fleet is over 10 years old, whereas 20% of Manchester's is over 10 years old.

It is no secret that QBP's can LOWER an operators income, and operators aren't competing for fares. Fuel prices have increased a lot in recent years, adding further costs to Stagecoach's bill, while fares haven't risen to match the increases.

It isn't worth looking at the Stagecoach annual report on their website and asking why they make mega profits but haven't invested in new double deckers in Liverpool. Each Stagecoach depot, and region, is operated as an individual business as part of the Stagecoach group, if the depot makes the money, it can invest, if it doesn't, it can't. Route costings play a large part in decision making processes for Stagecoach, and there's minimum profit levels service groups need to meet. A standard, new double decker costs around £30,000 more compared to a standard single decker, with 82/86 being the only QBP group of services to not get new vehicles yet, the difference between Enviro300's and Enviro400's would be about £750k, which Stagecoach would have to meet through large fare increases, which would affect service profitability. Used double deckers from another region could be a possibility (if figures show they're needed, and are high enough to cover the cost), but it is dependant on availability. When Merseyside took the 9 ex-London Tridents, they were the only low floor double deckers available for them to have, newer second hand vehicles would be very reliant on the likes of Manchester getting an upgrade to transfer out Enviro400's, with a lot of competition from other region's to get their hands on them, other regions that might have more profitable services than Liverpool.