TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
The issue of cost in relation to buses vs cars is again well known. If you look at the cost of car ownership, fuel costs have barely moved because the government has successively not changed fuel duty. However, for bus operators, they have had to deal with a cut in BSOG in 2012 that essentially is a grant to support fare levels so fares had to go up. Then factor in the costs of meeting various emissions requirements; that's before you look at other items that have loaded costs onto the operators like pension changes or insurance increase. Put it another way, operators could halve fares but unless they get a more than doubling of patronage (and that's unlikely), it's something that they really can't do. Also, as I've explained, the concessionary fare reimbursement formula means that casual users are disproportionately affected; if you're a regular commuter, a 4 week pass means you're paying less than £3 per day to travel - less than a Costa! That's decent value. If I were to compare with, say, Stagecoach in Manchester, their weekly pass is £16.50 vs First Glasgow at £17.00 so it's not dissimilar.
As for the decline of city centre shopping vs out of town centres, that's something that has been happening for the last 30 plus years as planning guidelines allowed that to occur. That the decline is now more marked is down to other factors like business rates. However, the real issue is the peak times that are the problem and that's down to commuters, not shoppers.
It has to be, IMHO, a carrot and stick approach. The operators have to be locked into providing improved fleet and ticketing though the latter is an issue because of competition issues; that's where the PTE can come in and support a partnership. Operators have to provide a modern, clean, frequent alternative. Similarly, the PTE can act to ensure that the bus can get the benefit of bus priority, ensuring that times are maintained. I've experienced buses being 10 mins late on a quiet day but all it takes is a phantom set of temporary lights or a badly parked courier van (sat in bus lane, hazards flashing) for that to happen. Or that quite simply, an earlier run has been so delayed in the morning peak that the return journey just can't get back in time. It's a constant battle these days to ensure that timetables are realistic to cope with day to day traffic. Lastly, unfettered car use has to be discouraged either from hampering progress by allowing buses priority, and reducing the amount of cheap, all day parking.
There are undoubtedly things that First (and other operators) could do. First have certainly been guilty of under-investment in the past and for well documented reasons. That Glasgow had to survive on ex London cascades and a few crumbs of new vehicle investment is not uncommon, and it was always the case that those years of under-investment were going to take a long time to put right. However, Andrew Jarvis is a very experienced bus man and he doubtless knows where the potential is in the network and is focussing on that but, at the the same time, the amount of cash available is finite.
