bye bye newbury buses Options

[JeffG]

I've said for the last year, let's look at the bus network from scratch and put it all out to competetive tender.

A Labour supporter suggesting competitive tender?? Bit of an oxymoron, surely.

[Biker1]

Were these routes 'viable' / profitable or were they loss making? Which other Company will touch them if they are loss making?

Should public transport be run as a public service owned by the public or should it be run for profit by private firms?

Remember, all governments these days seem to push the green agenda and should be encouraging us to use communal transport more to promote this.
Ever increasing fares and cuts to service do not seem to reflect this.
Are we "green" only when it suits financially?

[Pete Baggett]

Should public transport be run as a public service owned by the public or should it be run for profit by private firms?

Remember, all governments these days seem to push the green agenda and should be encouraging us to use communal transport more to promote this.
Ever increasing fares and cuts to service do not seem to reflect this.
Are we "green" only when it suits financially?

Under current legislation bus companies have to operate for profit. Where a route cannot be provided commercially then a local authority can put that service out to competetive tender if they can show there is a social need for such a service.

Local authorities are obliged to ensure a basic bus service is provided.

[On the edge]

Under current legislation bus companies have to operate for profit. Where a route cannot be provided commercially then a local authority can put that service out to competetive tender if they can show there is a social need for such a service.

Local authorities are obliged to ensure a basic bus service is provided.

This is a little muddled. If a route isn't operated commercially it must demonstrate no profit is made. So going out to competitive tender will simply be a waste of time.

Richard Garvey's earlier post provided a way forward - a review starting with a clean sheet of paper. The community idea isn't such a bad one. Equally, could something not be done with Vodafone? Why not let paying customers on? To those who felt this proposal would be 'too hard' for legal, insurance, security, etc. etc I work for an organisation, with the same parking problem, who do just that! Mind you, we aren't scared of our customers!