Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

[E400]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
A partnership should extend beyond simply sharing the actual route itself - it should also be a collaboration on fares and incentives for prospective passengers. I was speaking to somebody high up in Stagecoach management recently who said that their competition is not other operators, but car owners. I feel that any partnership should be a 50/50 peak time split (run-ins and outs can be skewed to the convenience of the operator) but that there should be a common fare structure between the operators. That would give both operators a roughly even split of the takings and then their own operating efficiency will dictate their own share in profits. Obviously, given Stagecoach's apparent domination of the Wirral & Chester QBPs, they won't be too happy to start charging the same fares as Arriva and thus lose out on the profit that they are generating, but it is in the best interests of the customer to have both operators actually collaborating, rather than battling it out between each other for the larger share of customers which then leads to artificially high loadings on the morning services when pass holders wait for Stagecoach buses in order to save a few quid on a week pass.

This also ties in with my long-term gripe of Stagecoach not accepting Arriva student tickets on their Liverpool QBPs - it is not a partnership if you disregard a large proportion of your partner's customers!.. but that is an argument for another day!