Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester

[iMarkeh]

RE: Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester

(19/01/2018 11:55)Barney Wrote:  £15 per year works out at about 4p per day. If, as is planned, fares are reduced, bus services are enhanced and bus priority schemes are introduced to reverse the decline in bus usage (which has occurred everywhere outside of London since deregulation in 1986) I think it may well be worth it in an attempt to get more people out of their cars, especially at peak times. And I speak as someone who has recently bought a brand new 67 plate car.

Given the amount of passengers complaining about the overcrowding on the V1/2, I can only assume bus usage would increase but there simply aren't enough buses on the busway to cope with the demand.

Then add on (in my opinion) the Park and Ride isn't easily accessible for those coming from the M61, that won't increase passenger numbers on the V1/2 (ignoring the above point, the more easilly accessible P+R sites are, the more people will be willing to use them).

A thing to highly consider though especially in Manchester. When there is a decline in bus usage, there is probably a good reason aside from the costs. Things like the Metrolink expansions, new train lines/stations things like that will more than likely reduce the numbers. I will admit though that the rising costs of bus travel, reduced frequencies, funding cuts will all all be factors, I do think it is worth remembering that other transport numbers may increase as a result of improvements in those areas.
Unsure if scheduled coach tickets are counted as part of bus usage figures but that will be interesting to know. I'm sure a lot more people are travelling via National Express and Megabus these days and of course lots of new services/new destinations.

So, when you mention about the decline in bus usage, it is possibly due to improvements elsewhere in transport as well as the obvious factors meaning decline in bus usage, may not be so bad after all.


I do think that bus franchising is a bad idea though personally. As have been mentioned, TFL are losing a lot of money just on the bus network. The whole thing though it is good as lots of new buses with more eco friendly engines etc, a lot of the smaller operators will just not be around any longer. Look at London, how much is owned by big companies? Little companies for their own reason tend to keep away from London. Possibly due to the amount of new buses needed in tenders or they simply can't compete on price, I don't know but all franchising will do is knock any little guys out and keep the 'big boys' in. It is well known in the industry that tenders of any sort, people put in stupid prices and make a lot more money than they do running services commercially. That then takes away money from the overall funding pot leaving passengers in a similar if not worse case than at current. What he would be better doing in my opinion is just subsidise lower fares. Bus priority can all be done without franchising everything. Just look at the V1/2, bus priority and not really any inconvenience to anyone. It is a shame though the busway isnt bigger and link more places. Also if it was open to all operators, that would be interesting like Cambridge and Luton with all the different companies with different services to different places.