Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester

[mr t]

RE: Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester
I very highly doubt franchising will ever happen here, simply too expensive to maintain and operate and the mayor will baulk when he sees the costs involved. It was used a threat couple of years ago under the Alliance and if certain standards and conditions not met over the trial 4 years operators would be kicked out of the town centres and routes taken off them, and then franchising would be brought in instead if they all didnt comply.
However only 2 operators signed up, the 5 small ones didnt because of the cost involved on training, bus improvements, eco changes to engines, and data sharing and stuff that was being laid down, so they cannot be penalised still make the same money as they did anyway and still change stuff all the time in Avons case, and Arriva have continuously cut and chopped routes along with Merseytravel.

The Alliance and QBPs was "meant" to be the middle ground massive piece of co-ordination agreement settled for, between the operators, councils and Merseytravel all promising to co-ordinate routes better by removing competition, tackle congestion hotspots, improve vehicles with wifi and bigger buses and eco friendly, driver training, ticket usage, with Merseytravel only really ending up "overseeing" the parties concerned but actually without actually any official control or ability to change stuff or routes like they wanted or introduce 24/7 operation on all the QBPs for a trial last year, 2 were started and are under threat because there is no financial support from Merseytravel. However we know Stagecoach and Arriva always invest in new vehicles every year anyway regardless of the Alliance even though they all made big shouts of how much they were both investing into the supposed Alliance.

I dont think there are enough operators left in Merseyside now to compete for franchsing, HTL & Cumfy are virtuallyall Solo operators so wouldnt be able to run any big routes, plus Avons buses are older and break down with constant driver problems with all 3 about so they would end up just losing their contracts constantly, just like now with Arriva and Stagecoach running virtually everything just like now, and being able to charge extra premiums because they know it is only 1 or the other who can win, the only alternatives being Halton (better buses but based in Widnes so only a south Liverpool operator) and Hattons, which is very small and obviously only covers St Helens, and all 5 are very close to full with only 1 depot each and their managers not really bothered about doubling their size in 10 years.

The council spending on the Alliance is virtually nil, even scrapping bus lanes and plans to narrow The Strand, Victoria Street, block Lime Street outside the station and narrow the rest of it next year, plus remove most of buses from Dale Street/Castle Street/James Street, plus close Mann Island so we know where their priorities lie - completely anti bus, plus Merseytravel are removing all bus/train timetables in the St Helens area at bus/train stations and libraries from January to save money as well as cutting half its contracts this year, so we also know where their priorities lie. Not spending extra millions on contracts and extra staff to monitor they are all abided by and set out correctly.

The GM area has always been a lot more on top when it comes to pushing ideas for the future hence the now massive metrolink, trains and trams to the Airport, its own road link to motorway, the M60 project plus lots of bus priorities, 2 massive football stadiums both with tram and train stations. Plus they still have like 20 operators and a lot of competition compared to Merseyside.

Liverpool has no bus lanes no trams, no Airport links except a bus, no park & ride but we do have bike lanes and bike stations everywhere and more to come coz Joe loves bikes and thats it, plus the train network has not been changed since it was introduced in the 70s, plus the M62 that is half finished at the Rocket in the 70s, and M58 again unfinished. We only got Edge Lane to full dual carriageway 8 years ago, 40 years after M62 scheme was scrapped, and the Thornton bypass, also about another 40 years late. The railway bridges were meant to be widened to remove congestion on Wavertree Road, Walton Lane, Hornby Road and Townsend wre also planned from the 60s. Merseytram would have been 10 years old by now, with 3 different lines including the Airport and a park & ride scheme.

All because the NIMBY brigade and the councils being unable to convince themselves (so much infighting in 70s/80s/90s) and residents about planning for the future was essential for the growth of the region, and which had always been done since WW1 as the city grew and grew outwards, and the slums and terraces and derelict buildings in the inner areas were constantly cleared and people moved outwards. Theoretically there would be no terraced housing left on the inside of Queens Drive and everyone in nice family houses if that process had been completed (like everything else here during 70s/80s - all new roads around Belle Vale, Gateacre, Woolton and Hunts Cross were planned), plus the inner ring motorway network ,which was planned for years after WW2 to link the planned end of M62, M58, Walton Hall Avenue, the new tunnel and the Strand, Parliament Street, Chinatown back to Norton Street, then dropped at the final hurdle with only Leeds Street Hunter Street and Islington ever being implemented but obviously only as normal roads.
Think what congestion would be like now if this was all implemented.

Do we trust Joe or Steve to actually go ahead and properly implement franchising?