(11/08/2014 18:15)RSTurbo50 Wrote: [ -> ]Fairbrothers weekly ticket is £6 and yes we are extremely busy at the moment especially on the Dallam and Westy runs
Well, I think at fares that low you'll need to be busy.
As for Warrington, it would appear that the operator has an exceptionally high cost base, not least because of some of the working practices that are in place. While a municipal isn't in the same situation as a subsidiary of the big groups where it needs to be looking at double-digit profit margins, the days of going cap in hand to the council after another year's awful financial performance are long gone. They need to be making some kind of return, but a £24 weekly ticket is well into even Southern Vectis territory.
A more cynical view could be that WBT might get paid a percentage of the average fare for each concessionary pass holder it carries. Jack the adult fares up and voila. That said I'm not familiar with how Cheshire CC reimburses operators.
(11/08/2014 20:13)RSTurbo50 Wrote: [ -> ]It's a shame what is happening to the company. They are in an awful lot of debt and see increasing fares as a way of increasing revenue. Perhaps doing the opposite and lowering fares across the board may tempt people to use them more...
I think that's how a lot of hard up regular fare paying passengers will see it. Their hiking up the fares to pay back the hefty loan they recently had that made the newspapers - well locally anyway.
For example, a trip on Network Warringtons 16 to Dallam costs £2.20 currently and is about a 10-15 minute trip. Fairbrothers is £1.30. A return for the same journey with Network Warrington is I believe £4. Fairbrothers return is £1.80.
You can see why passengers are using Fairbrothers more and more.
There was a few posts on the Network Warrington facebook page, and by a few they were in tripple figures, and not one positive!
One lady mentioned how she stayed loyal to Warrington during the great bus wars with Arriva... and how 14 years on she regrets it.
(11/08/2014 21:02)RSTurbo50 Wrote: [ -> ]For example, a trip on Network Warringtons 16 to Dallam costs £2.20 currently and is about a 10-15 minute trip. Fairbrothers is £1.30. A return for the same journey with Network Warrington is I believe £4. Fairbrothers return is £1.80.
You can see why passengers are using Fairbrothers more and more.
While it's great to see an independent like Fairbothers doing well the question is can they really sustain offering such low fares long term? They were apparently doing well and were busy while offering the £1 flat fare so if things were going so well why did they increase fares to £1.30?
We've seen it so many times where an operator has come along, taken on the big boys with very cheap fares, looked very much like they were getting it right only to go bump, because they wernt actually making any money.
I'm not sure who told you they were doing so well when fares were £1? The big difference has come by building a strong reputation the past twelve months and now that we operate from different bays at the bus station. That has made a big difference. We have also secured a number of Merseytravel contracts so things are on the up.
(12/08/2014 08:12)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]£2.20 isn't too bad for 10-15 minutes.
Soon to be £2.50 single though -- roughly double Fairbrothers's price.
We can agree to disagree on whether that's a good price ... It only takes about half an hour to walk: I know that's what I'd do.
In the last three years, how many times has Network Warrington increased fares?
Also, the last time Arriva, well it was British Bus North Western, tried to compete with what was then WBT, the public stayed loyal to WBT. If Arriva were to try and compete this time, which may require opening a new depot in the town, would the public be so loyal to Network Warrington?
(12/08/2014 15:14)robertclark125 Wrote: [ -> ]In the last three years, how many times has Network Warrington increased fares?
Also, the last time Arriva, well it was British Bus North Western, tried to compete with what was then WBT, the public stayed loyal to WBT. If Arriva were to try and compete this time, which may require opening a new depot in the town, would the public be so loyal to Network Warrington?
If a new operator came into Warrington in strength, i doubt any passenger would remain loyal to Network Warrington and there £24 weekly ticket being a prime example of the greed of it`s fare scale,ok they have big debts,but they can`t justify that ticket price ,they don`t exactly go far beyond the town with a couple of exceptions, you can`t even get to Widnes and other quite nearby towns by using them,if Stagecoach or Arriva came in properly with a local network and a realistically priced local weekly ticket, say £14, NW would be calling in the administrators before very long. Fairbrothers and there pretty unattractive fleet of old bangers don`t have the resources to do this,Stagecoach and Arriva certainly do.