Lancashire County Council Cuts to Bus Services

[Barney]

RE: Lancashire County Council Cuts to Bus Services

(01/03/2016 12:52)Mayneway Wrote:  Quite possibly and even in areas like Greater Manchester and Merseyside where the cuts arnt as drastic YET, there's talk of more severe cuts this year and next year so if we do see any kind of regulation what are they going do, force operators to suddenly start operating services that completly disapeared 2/3 years previously?

Nonsense. What you need to understand is that a regulated bus service would cost a lot more to operate than the current deregulated one. Just look at how much it costs to run buses for TfL. If you are old enough to remember, the whole rationale of the 1985 Transport Act (introduced by a Conservative government) was to REDUCE the amount of subsidy from central government to local councils by privatising the bus companies.

SHOULD franchising ever be introduced outside of London, the privatised companies such as Stagecoach and Arriva would only apply to operate routes that were profitable. In essence, the loss of all tendered (non-profitable) services is exactly what the ultimate objective of what was planned some 30 years ago.

Finally, if you don't buy a ticket (vote) don't expect to win the raffle (have your views represented).