Surviving council owned bus companies in 2014

[robertclark125]

It's another annual thread of mine, the thoughts on the future of the remaining council owned bus firms. As a reminder, here are the survivors.

Scotland - Lothian Buses

Wales - Cardiff Bus, Newport Transport

England - Blackpool Transport, Rosso, Network Warrington, Halton Transport, Nottingham City Transport, Ipswich Buses, Reading Buses, Thamesdown.

So, that's eleven firms. How many will be on the list as council owned at the end of 2015? I say all of them, but what do others think?

 

[Y961 XBU]

It's another annual thread of mine, the thoughts on the future of the remaining council owned bus firms. As a reminder, here are the survivors.

Scotland - Lothian Buses

Wales - Cardiff Bus, Newport Transport

England - Blackpool Transport, Rosso, Network Warrington, Halton Transport, Nottingham City Transport, Ipswich Buses, Reading Buses, Thamesdown.

So, that's eleven firms. How many will be on the list as council owned at the end of 2015? I say all of them, but what do others think?

Halton are safe as their profits are going up, Network Warrington on the other hand are not doing well at all

 

[Robertj21a]

It's another annual thread of mine, the thoughts on the future of the remaining council owned bus firms. As a reminder, here are the survivors.

Scotland - Lothian Buses

Wales - Cardiff Bus, Newport Transport

England - Blackpool Transport, Rosso, Network Warrington, Halton Transport, Nottingham City Transport, Ipswich Buses, Reading Buses, Thamesdown.

So, that's eleven firms. How many will be on the list as council owned at the end of 2015? I say all of them, but what do others think?

Some are definitely more assured of a future than they were 1-2 years ago. Warrington has appeared to be a bit close to the edge for a while now and I'm never very sure about Rossendale or Newport.

Lothian, Nottingham are there for the long term with, probably, Reading.

 

[anthony263]

Newport are certainly ok for the moment especially with further investment in newer vehicles

 

[90sWereBetter]

Ipswich seems reasonably secure for the short term at least. They did take a blow with the reduction of concessionary fares reimbursement, but they seem to have weathered the storm so far. They're not making much profit, but they are still doing well enough.

Longer-term will be interesting though, as a lot of the current fleet was new between 2000 and 2003 (23 Darts, 13 Tridents, 10 DAF double deckers, 4 Optare Excels) It is all DDA-compliant, but there could be quite a big fleet renewal coming up before the end of the decade, which will cost money.

 

[Robertj21a]

Ipswich seems reasonably secure for the short term at least. They did take a blow with the reduction of concessionary fares reimbursement, but they seem to have weathered the storm so far. They're not making much profit, but they are still doing well enough.

Longer-term will be interesting though, as a lot of the current fleet was new between 2000 and 2003 (23 Darts, 13 Tridents, 10 DAF double deckers, 4 Optare Excels) It is all DDA-compliant, but there could be quite a big fleet renewal coming up before the end of the decade, which will cost money.

Ipswich has just advertised for a new MD - what's happened to the current one ?

 

[Stan Drews]

Ipswich has just advertised for a new MD - what's happened to the current one ?

Retiring

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Rossendale and Halton seem to be different to the others. Whereas the others are the dominant (in some cases near monopoly) operators in their respective towns like the old school municipal operators, Halton and Rossendale have strong competition in their own boroughs yet also operate to a good extent outside their respective municipal areas.

According to certain websites there are two municipal bus operators in Scotland
DGC Buses - Dumfries & Galloway Council being the other

 

[Busaholic]

Rossendale and Halton seem to be different to the others. Whereas the others are the dominant (in some cases near monopoly) operators in their respective towns like the old school municipal operators, Halton and Rossendale have strong competition in their own boroughs yet also operate to a good extent outside their respective municipal areas.

According to certain websites there are two municipal bus operators in Scotland
DGC Buses - Dumfries & Galloway Council being the other

My understanding is that DGC was formed in order to provide statutory school services under an Education Act for Scotland, in the absence of sufficient bus operators locally to do the job, and some journeys are provided between these school duties in order to keep the drivers happy, as not all would be willing to work for such restricted hours. For the same reason, some of these routes run in school holidays too, and one or two used to have an evening and Saturday service, though these may now have gone to save money. As such, it is not a 'municipal' operation in the sense that most would use it and wasn't one of the 100 or so that used to exist (and co-exist).

 

[cactustwirly]

Reading WILL stay! They have just bought a bunch of new E300's to replace the solars. They also have the majority of the town to themselves.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

My understanding is that DGC was formed in order to provide statutory school services under an Education Act for Scotland, in the absence of sufficient bus operators locally to do the job, and some journeys are provided between these school duties in order to keep the drivers happy, as not all would be willing to work for such restricted hours. For the same reason, some of these routes run in school holidays too, and one or two used to have an evening and Saturday service, though these may now have gone to save money. As such, it is not a 'municipal' operation in the sense that most would use it and wasn't one of the 100 or so that used to exist (and co-exist).

It seems a little more than you describe from the list of services operated here

http://scotland-demo.trapezegroup.co.uk/cms/content/pdfFragments/ServiceList_DGC.xhtml

Though not one of the original municipals it may herald a new breed of council run bus operators. Unlike the Isle of Wight version there is more of a commitment to public transport in Scotland and DGC may be around a bit longer.

 

[Busaholic]

It seems a little more than you describe from the list of services operated here

http://scotland-demo.trapezegroup.co.uk/cms/content/pdfFragments/ServiceList_DGC.xhtml

Though not one of the original municipals it may herald a new breed of council run bus operators. Unlike the Isle of Wight version there is more of a commitment to public transport in Scotland and DGC may be around a bit longer.

It looks an impressive list on the surface, but if you start to look at the individual timetables you'll see that most only operate on one or two days a week, sometimes with just one return journey. In other words, it doesn't require an awful lot of buses for the schedules.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

yes it is noticeable when reading the small print that even some of the more frequent town services don't run during school holidays.

Maybe they should come under a separate thread of state/council/ run services as opposed to old school municipals.

Am not sure where Unobus fit in either being owned by a university are they indirectly state run ?

 

[robertclark125]

DGC buses are more of a lifebelt type operation, in the same way Kent Top Travel was originally. That's why they're not included in the list.

 

[W-on-Sea]

The DGS services sound (perhaps) a bit like those routes operated by "Oxfordshire County Council (Special Transport Services)" division - filling in gaps in rural areas where running a council-owned minibus is the cheapest way to do so. (Cheaper: to such an extent that they don't even bother to charge fares.)

 

[Busaholic]

The DGS services sound (perhaps) a bit like those routes operated by "Oxfordshire County Council (Special Transport Services)" division - filling in gaps in rural areas where running a council-owned minibus is the cheapest way to do so. (Cheaper: to such an extent that they don't even bother to charge fares.)

Yes, 'social services' in the widest, and absolutely correct, sense.