Buses Bill

[Barney]

RE: Buses Bill

(18/05/2016 14:23)knutstransport Wrote:  How would it work? Would a franchised operator take on everything currently operated in the area or would they take on the contracted routes and leave the commercial routes to existing operators? And would non-franchise operators be allowed to compete with franchised operators and if so how does the 'commercial services not being allowed to compete with contracted services.'

As I understand it, as in London, any operator could bid to run a route but the hours of operation, fares, frequency and vehicle type would be determined by the mayor's office. The successful bidder would have exclusive rights to run the service so QBP's such as 10, 14, 82, 86 etc. will be a thing of the past.

It may well be that the franchises would be in bundles of say five routes so that no operator would be able just to bid for the most lucrative routes. In essence this is what was the situation prior to 1986 except for the fact that the bus companies will now remain in private rather than public ownership.