Buses Bill

[126th street]

RE: Buses Bill

(18/05/2016 19:33)PO59 MXJ Wrote:  All drivers will be on the same wage and should get a council pension as well

Is absolutely the wrong answer, because there is a clear stipulation in the Bill that all services will still be run by private operators. There is also specific wording that prevents any LA from setting up its own operation to take on bus services.

Those that think that franchising is a given just because an area will have an elected mayor are missing the most important thing, and that is that franchising has to pass a number of tests before it can be adopted even if the mayor decides that he or she wants to go down that route.

Among those are the VFM test and whether it is affordable. As seen in the Nexus debacle, the answer to both is likely to be no. Another test to be passed is whether a franchising scheme would contribute to the implementation of neighbouring authorities' transport and wider policies, which again is likely to be a very sticky one.