Stagecoach Manchester

[Brickmill]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester and Wigan

(07/03/2019 09:19)Barney Wrote:  The whole issue of fleet replacement for both large and small operators should not be confined to this thread alone.

I will simply make these points. Until about 1980 the PTEs were able to invest in fleet renewal thanks to three factors. Firstly, there was a national trend to introduce OPO as a means of saving running costs. Secondly, they received a 50% reduction in the actual cost of each unit thanks to the New Bus Grant and thirdly successive central governments recognised that all forms of mass transit should be in the public domain.

Like it or not, both bus and train operation in this country is now in the hands of companies either quoted on the stock exchange or in the hands of foreign governments. Their whole raison d'etre is make a profit NOT to provide a service.

Yes, but it is British legislation that has made it possible . I think the point about First M'cr and Arrival on the one hand and Stagecoach M'CR on the other is that the Former invested in peaks and troughs but since 2012 have virtually stopped spending on new buses unless the taxpayer is footing part of the bill. Stagecoach did invest steadily until 2017 but have now stopped. This and the other issues regarding cutting profitable service s to resource bus wars; failure to refurbish diesel Enviro400s; piecemeal tinkering with timetables; hiking fares on captive market routes and then blaming it on congestion on routes NOT seeing the same fare hikes and the utter joke that is vehicle allocation, have ALL come about since 2014/5. The only element of Stagecoach Manchester that has not deteriorated in that time is Driving Standards.