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It also includes a lot of things that wouldn’t be included in other areas: patient transfers to and from the hospital, for instance, are operated by Bus Vannin here, as is school transport. It also includes the cost of concessionary bus passes.
Where I live the buses are run by the government. The fare into Douglas from my house- just under three miles- is £1.40 single (or £1.10 per single if I buy a 12-journey smartcard carnet in advance). I don't have a concessionary pass. Buses are every 20 minutes on the main road and, separately, every 30 minutes through the estate. Both routes are about a 10 minute walk away. The last bus is 2305 (0015 on Fridays and Saturdays).
I also have two cars, one for me and one for Mrs Tyke.
I generally drive to work in Douglas city centre for the simple fact that my employer gives me a parking space for free. Parking in the multi-storey would be £7 per day. If I didn't have the space I'd get the bus. If I'm going out drinking after work I get the bus.
Mrs Tyke generally drives to work as, although she works less than two miles away, it would involve a bus into town and one back out. There is a direct bus to her work, but only (bizarrely) on evenings and Sundays.
The island is generally very rural and so cars are very much a necessity here. But despite that we have a good bus service. We currently have as Chief Minister a man who doesn't care about you unless you drive a Bentley, but even despite that we have a good bus service. It's a good bus service that is well used.
And, tellingly, it costs about £5m a year net to run. That's about the same as what Stagecoach are being paid to run Guernsey's bus services, even though Guernsey bus fares are higher, the Guernsey network isn't nearly as expansive as ours, and even though Guernsey is barely a quarter of the size of the Isle of Man. It's a similar story in Jersey.
Except it doesn't cost £5m a year net to run. It costs £12m and revenue is only £5m. Even if you remove some of the medical transport services (and they are doing that as apparently and transferring to ManxCare, it seems that the medical people have been writing cheques for Bus Vannin to cash), it is much more than that.
In fact, I don't think you can say there's anything "tellingly" about it. You have to factor in average wages/cost of living (which is higher in the Channel Islands - basic driver pay is >£16/hr), but also factors such as how capital is treated. Without looking at those, you can't make a direct comparison.
Getting back on topic, the issue with nationalisation or "franchising" is really about how private companies are able to realise value.
Currently, franchising is a total misnomer. People like Go Ahead or Stagecoach in London or Manchester aren't a franchise like a McDonalds or a Costa. In those environments, franchisees are bound by many standards and stipulations in terms of image, quality etc but also have the ability to manage their businesses - they can expand their empire by opening up another branch (subject to considerations in competing with another franchisee) or vary their opening hours, and even participating in certain promotions or not. They take the risk commercially.
Bus operators are not franchisees. They are merely contractors, paid to provide a specified service. As public procurement has shown, the public bodies have a problem in that they are very good at screwing down contractors to a price and then some punitive performance measures. Rather than nationalisation, perhaps contracts should be structured that rather demanding a premium (as per the train franchises which actually were franchises), they have some sort of gainshare mechanism that incentivises the operators to grow patronage?
Franchising does seem to have gained a new meaning. Traditionally it means an independent business setting up and paying to take on the brand and associated elements of a large organisation, which neither rail nor bus operation is. Contracted operation is probably a better term for it in terms of rail and bus, but that's a bit of a mouthful.
Using the word correctly, "bus franchising" might enable me to, for example, decide to set up a Milton Keynes operation and pay Stagecoach (or whoever) to use their branding and house style, and perhaps be bound by their fares policies, but it'd still be my own independent business. Nobody is doing that.
Franchising does seem to have gained a new meaning. Traditionally it means an independent business setting up and paying to take on the brand and associated elements of a large organisation, which neither rail nor bus operation is. Contracted operation is probably a better term for it in terms of rail and bus, but that's a bit of a mouthful.
Using the word correctly, "bus franchising" might enable me to, for example, decide to set up a Milton Keynes operation and pay Stagecoach (or whoever) to use their branding and house style, and perhaps be bound by their fares policies, but it'd still be my own independent business. Nobody is doing that.
The example that I can think were Marchwood Motorways that operated as Solent BlueLine - it was their operation, vehicles but they operated under SBL livery and featured in their publicity.
Essentially, those working for Bee Network are just contractors.
The example that I can think were Marchwood Motorways that operated as Solent BlueLine - it was their operation, vehicles but they operated under SBL livery and featured in their publicity.
Except it doesn't cost £5m a year net to run. It costs £12m and revenue is only £5m. Even if you remove some of the medical transport services (and they are doing that as apparently and transferring to ManxCare, it seems that the medical people have been writing cheques for Bus Vannin to cash), it is much more than that.
In fact, I don't think you can say there's anything "tellingly" about it. You have to factor in average wages/cost of living (which is higher in the Channel Islands - basic driver pay is >£16/hr), but also factors such as how capital is treated. Without looking at those, you can't make a direct comparison.
Getting back on topic, the issue with nationalisation or "franchising" is really about how private companies are able to realise value.
Currently, franchising is a total misnomer. People like Go Ahead or Stagecoach in London or Manchester aren't a franchise like a McDonalds or a Costa. In those environments, franchisees are bound by many standards and stipulations in terms of image, quality etc but also have the ability to manage their businesses - they can expand their empire by opening up another branch (subject to considerations in competing with another franchisee) or vary their opening hours, and even participating in certain promotions or not. They take the risk commercially.
Bus operators are not franchisees. They are merely contractors, paid to provide a specified service. As public procurement has shown, the public bodies have a problem in that they are very good at screwing down contractors to a price and then some punitive performance measures. Rather than nationalisation, perhaps contracts should be structured that rather demanding a premium (as per the train franchises which actually were franchises), they have some sort of gainshare mechanism that incentivises the operators to grow patronage?
Flixbus, Citylink are genuine franchises - they contract with SME coach operators to actually deliver their service.
Greater Manchester and TfL work in a similar way, but it's actually a concession model - operators are actually just paid a management fee but revenue risk is borne by the Local Authority in TfL's case. GM is going to end up as dysfunctional as the railways in GB.
Railways are a law unto themselves as usual, as none of the staff, services or assets can be changed by the franchise holder.
Railways consume about £300/year per head via taxes. Local taxes paying for bus services are just forcing spend on buses that can easily be cut (compared to rail) as there is no well-organised political constituency lobbying for more spend on buses (compare to rail unions).
There are/were lots of subsidised bus services which haven't been profitable for decades, and those generally work. Local problems are due to the tendering process driving out all competition and the planning system keeping new rivals out. The real driver of decline in bus is because of economics grads and bean counters owning the controlling stakes in the big groups. McGills and West Coast Motors are actually quite successful and the common factor is that they aren't publicly traded. Stagecoach seems to have shareholders which understand bus operations but FirstGroup seems to have shareholders who are willfully ignorant of the market they're in.
Stagecoach seems to have shareholders which understand bus operations but FirstGroup seems to have shareholders who are willfully ignorant of the market they're in.
Stagecoach is ultimately owned by Deutsche Bank and FirstGroup mostly by institutional investors. They leave it to the Boards of Directors to run the businesses and just expect them to generate a decent return on the capital invested.
My dad worked for the Nationalised version of Southdown, at (what was then) Pool Valley Bus Station in Brighton (now a desolate desert) in the early 1980s. It was a lot easier as companies that were short of a vehicle or two could borrow one from a depot 5 miles away. After the Transport Act 1985 that was no longer possible. He went onto National Express for a few years, and once Deregulation occurred he ended up with them full time.
There was Brighton and Hove (the old Brighton, Hove and District, nationalised in 1948 with the other BTC owned Tilling group companies) and Brighton Blue Bus (Brighton Borough Transport) which was the local Municipal company, previously Brighton Corporation Transport, which did mainly Town work and a few oddities, like the 33 from Haywards Heath out to Hurstpierpoint, extending to Sheffield Park Station and Gardens on some days.
This quick trip down memory lane does throw up a few questions for me.
It'd certainly be interesting to watch from within the industry though. If it did happen it'd likely either be done by the DaFT taking over the big groups, or like others have said, the Franchising model, which [sarcasm]served the railways sooooo well... [/sarcasm]
Would I advocate De-Privatising and going back to the NBC as it was?
Probably not. The industry has changed and the job isn't what it was even a decade ago. I had a great time for my 12½ years at Brighton & Hove buses but it nearly burned me out.
Would I support another model of Re-nationalisation?*
Maybe. As with so many of these ideas, the devil is in the detail. The bus industry is not like the railway industry, where I do support full De-privatisation. Basically those of us who work in the industry want to keep our jobs and do them with the minimum of fuss. That could all be up-ended by rocking the boat too far and changing things without necessity, or, as might be discussed, it could bring a stability that the industry is crying out for. That would need a serious in depth discussion at some point soon and trying to work out where the next 10 or 15 years might take us.
Would it happen before I retire?
Probably not. As with these things there's a hell of a lot of boring stuff. Meetings, consultation and (gulp) the scourge that is the paperwork. All that would take time and ultimately would be unlikely to play out before I hit 65.
At most, I'd probably get maybe 10 or 15 years as a Government employee.
__________________________________
*It must be noted, that I consider Renationalisation and De-privatisation to be two vaguely similar, but different things.
Renationalisation is taking back into State ownership, whether by means of a new company, new structure, name, livery etc.
De-privatisation is, by my definition at least, to return a company to the state it was in before privatisation occurred, ie, to de-privatise the railways, we'd have BR back. To de-privatise the buses, well, they'd be either red or green (Dark blue for Jones of Aberbeeg) with a white horizontal band and the double N symbol with a fleet name in NBC font.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Stagecoach is ultimately owned by Deutsche Bank and FirstGroup mostly by institutional investors. They leave it to the Boards of Directors to run the businesses and just expect them to generate a decent return on the capital invested.
Re Stagecoach. I work for them. The new Deutsche lords and masters are starting to turn the screws on unproductive things. They seem to be going through the group one operating company at a time looking for fat to trim so let's see. They say they want to invest in us, the staff and I'm guessing they want to sell off the loss making parts (ie Megabus) so that what's left is broadly profitable. But yes they want a return on their investment and they'll have a business case intended to last X number of years. Let's see what they find when they get to Midland Red South...
My dad worked for the Nationalised version of Southdown, at (what was then) Pool Valley Bus Station in Brighton (now a desolate desert) in the early 1980s. It was a lot easier as companies that were short of a vehicle or two could borrow one from a depot 5 miles away. After the Transport Act 1985 that was no longer possible. He went onto National Express for a few years, and once Deregulation occurred he ended up with them full time.
There was Brighton and Hove (the old Brighton, Hove and District, nationalised in 1948 with the other BTC owned Tilling group companies) and Brighton Blue Bus (Brighton Borough Transport) which was the local Municipal company, previously Brighton Corporation Transport, which did mainly Town work and a few oddities, like the 33 from Haywards Heath out to Hurstpierpoint, extending to Sheffield Park Station and Gardens on some days.
This quick trip down memory lane does throw up a few questions for me.
It'd certainly be interesting to watch from within the industry though. If it did happen it'd likely either be done by the DaFT taking over the big groups, or like others have said, the Franchising model, which [sarcasm]served the railways sooooo well... [/sarcasm]
Would I advocate De-Privatising and going back to the NBC as it was?
Probably not. The industry has changed and the job isn't what it was even a decade ago. I had a great time for my 12½ years at Brighton & Hove buses but it nearly burned me out.
Would I support another model of Re-nationalisation?*
Maybe. As with so many of these ideas, the devil is in the detail. The bus industry is not like the railway industry, where I do support full De-privatisation. Basically those of us who work in the industry want to keep our jobs and do them with the minimum of fuss. That could all be up-ended by rocking the boat too far and changing things without necessity, or, as might be discussed, it could bring a stability that the industry is crying out for. That would need a serious in depth discussion at some point soon and trying to work out where the next 10 or 15 years might take us.
Would it happen before I retire?
Probably not. As with these things there's a hell of a lot of boring stuff. Meetings, consultation and (gulp) the scourge that is the paperwork. All that would take time and ultimately would be unlikely to play out before I hit 65.
At most, I'd probably get maybe 10 or 15 years as a Government employee.
__________________________________
*It must be noted, that I consider Renationalisation and De-privatisation to be two vaguely similar, but different things.
Renationalisation is taking back into State ownership, whether by means of a new company, new structure, name, livery etc.
De-privatisation is, by my definition at least, to return a company to the state it was in before privatisation occurred, ie, to de-privatise the railways, we'd have BR back. To de-privatise the buses, well, they'd be either red or green (Dark blue for Jones of Aberbeeg) with a white horizontal band and the double N symbol with a fleet name in NBC font.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Re Stagecoach. I work for them. The new Deutsche lords and masters are starting to turn the screws on unproductive things. They seem to be going through the group one operating company at a time looking for fat to trim so let's see. They say they want to invest in us, the staff and I'm guessing they want to sell off the loss making parts (ie Megabus) so that what's left is broadly profitable. But yes they want a return on their investment and they'll have a business case intended to last X number of years. Let's see what they find when they get to Midland Red South...
Yes we had all the drivers come to fill our vacancies on the main rota. A few of them went to do Contract work in Birmingham. It does mean we're fully staffed for once, until the next round of retirements, at least. We're just a contractor now.
A few left because they didn't want to do Bus work too.
