Buses Bill

[Metroline1511]

RE: Buses Bill

(09/12/2016 14:22)steve517757 Wrote:  It is possible... but it does depend on the budget, London tendering has taken ages to get where it is and the bus network operates at over a £600m a year deficit.

London tendering started with a race to the bottom ... older vehicles brought in which were many years older than the incumbent.

Be careful what you wish for

I remember this. Admittedly it led to London buses by the mid-90s operating with virtually no subsidy.

(09/12/2016 16:04)Barney Wrote:  London was exempt from deregulation in 1986 but the bus companies were privatised. Initially, the new bus companies were allowed to introduce their own liveries (have a look at Grey-Green's or London Suburban Buses) but the powers-that-be quickly realised that the iconic image of the red London bus was being lost. Consequently, all successful tenders were compelled to paint their buses 90% London red. More recently, that has increased to 100% and the London roundel now also has to be applied. The result of this is that it is virtually impossible to distinguish whether the franchised route is being operated by Arriva, Stagecoach, First, Go-Ahead or any of the other ten or so companies that run buses on London's streets. '

You are right in your estimate of London buses run by 10 companies! They are run in approximately descending order of size by Go-Ahead, Metroline, Arriva, Stagecoach, RATP (including Quality Line), Abellio, Tower Transit, Hackney Community Transport (t/a CT Plus), Sullivan and Uno.

They largely have their own choice of interiors, but even this is being eroded as some operators - such as CT Plus and Sullivan - are taking up LT-style interiors on some of their own new buses.