Warrington's Own Buses

[Bevan Price]

RE: WBT Network Warrington

(12/08/2014 20:12)Dentonian Wrote:  Whilst short distance fares (for necessary journeys to the Job Centre, GP surgery, nearest Supermarket etc) are universally horrendous outside London, I can't think of any examples in deegulated Britain where there is such a massive weekly cost for such a small network. Nevertheless, the cynic in me still says the CMA will not allow Stagecoach to take advantage, but given Arriva already have a prescence in Warrington, it would be interesting to see what happens if they compete on limited corridors, purely on cost, rather than "six minutes in front of" registrations.
Alternatively, whether Fairbrothers or not, what is needed is a good quality independant, capable of running what it registers, because the gap in fares for regular passengers is so massive, that an independant could afford to undercut WBT considerably, and run a reliable, proffessional operation.

I don't think that any independent will ever have the resources to operate a network large enough to compete with operators as big as WBT. Most of those who have tried to compete elsewhere (Liverpool, Manchester, etc.) tend to:
1. Go bust, or,
2. Get into trouble with the vehicle inspectors and/or the Traffic Commissioners, or,
3. Try to grow too fast / too large for their management capabilities and then either go bust, sell out to a larger operator, give up, or downsize to just compete for tendered services, or revert mainly to coach operations.

Those independents who remain relatively small, and do not try to expand too much tend to survive longest.