Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester

[Brickmill]

RE: Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester

(19/01/2018 22:33)djb Wrote:  I’ve mentioned this before on here that as you say reform is needed in the bus routes of gm, but it can’t be done without proper ticket integration (and ideally re-regulation/franchising). Different modes of transport need to complement each other rather than duplicating, and there needs to be the capacity on railed transport to allow bus passengers to feed in.

Ticket integration seems to be progressing irrespective of the type of regulatory Reform that may or may not happen. However, that won't necessarily address the problem of fares being unaffordable and increasingly variable based on where you are travelling. Beyond that, different public transport modes do need to complement rather than compete, but that should not mean bus users being forced to change. Notwithstanding, extra capacity on Rail would be far more expensive to the tax-payer and take longer to deliver. You've recognised the capacity problem on Rail, but all modes need to improve reliability and punctuality massively to make integration practical, never mind desirable. Beyond that you have to consider the various negatives of halving to physically change vehicles with no short term possibility of proper, safe, comfortable local interchanges.