Talks of Liverpools bus network being "council" run

[Barney]

RE: Talks of Liverpools bus network being "council" run

(29/10/2014 18:51)507009 Wrote:  If Joe Anderson and/or Merseytravel are anywhere near this, then suffice to say it won't end well.

We have just passed the anniversary of bus deregulation and to be honest with you when it was introduced I never thought that it was a policy that would benefit people reliant on bus services nor that it would still be in existence twenty-eight years later. At the time there were dire warnings of reduced services and increased fares for passengers and a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions for the employees of these newly privatised companies. Has that happened I wonder?

From what I understand what is being considered is not a renationalisation of bus companies but rather an introduction of franchising where bus companies can bid to operate routes, similar to that which exists in London still. In the north east, this prospect of route franchising is well advanced with the ITA and local politicians are about to vote on this very proposal.

Not surprisingly, the major bus companies are totally opposed to this proposal and Brian Souter has gone on record as saying that he will pull out entirely from the north-east and close all his depots down leaving several thousand of his employees redundant if it is implemented. This is the same man who sold his entire London operation to an Australian company about six years ago because he said that he could not make sufficient profit only to buy it back at a fraction of the cost he sold it for three years later.

I suppose the question people need to ask themselves when considering this proposal is: should the bus services in major conurbations be operated by a bus company for the benefit of its shareholders or as an essential service for its population. Bus operations in Merseyside prior to bus deregulation were not perfect but, in my opinion, overall they were a lot better than they are now.