Howards/Springfield

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(24/07/2017 19:45)Dentonian Wrote:  Unfortunately, I have to confess my knowledge of he network is lacking somewhat - if only because I only use it as a "stress purchase". Consequently, I can't readily find an ATW operated journey between Stockport and Manchester. That said, Virgin manage to charge a ridiculous £3 something OPR, but most others charge £5, which is 70p more than the bus - albeit with free cross-city Metrolink added on, of course.
It is also difficult to remember that franchise costs are a blanket subsidy, wheras every commercial bus journey is an individual cost-centre; I don't know if you are old enough to remember Nicholas Ridiculous' famous speech about the "Evils of cross-subsidy" - though not so evil for red buses passing Westminster and Whitehall, of course!

The examples I had in mind were ATN not ATW, and were where off-peak fares were kept below competing commercial bus services, and were protected from the most recent fare rises (May?). That, over and above the general political strategy of Local Rail (heavy and light) being a way of getting buses off the road, and not cars.

The reason I mentioned ATW was because they have to produce separate financial information for the English and Welsh sections which shows that despite them being a heavily subsided franchise that not everything contained in the franchise is loss making.

The reason Virgin offer cheap Virgin only fares is because they have so many empty seats on a lot of their services between Manchester and Crewe/Stoke and if they charge £3 for a Virgin only fare they get the full £3. For the Any Permitted tickets they get a share split between all the operators based on the number of seats each operator provides, which means the system favours Virgin over Northern and why Northern were so unhappy about Virgin removing the pick-up/set-down only restrictions at Stockport.

Going back to buses while cross-subsidy isn't allowed, in reality with many operators issuing Day tickets valid on all their services within a specific area it happens anyway.

If I see the 200 bus in Wilmslow in the next few weeks I'll report back as to whether the bus arrives in or leaves Wilmslow with any passengers on board.