(15 Jan 2015, 8:55 pm)MurdnunoC I'm afraid to say, chances are, it will happen in Northumberland and Durham as the Combined Authority are keen on the idea. Most Labour-led councils will back the proposals - even the Conservative MP (Hexham), Guy Opperman, is broadly in favour of the scheme.
Nail on the head. Even the Tories are now pushing everyone onto the regional devolution bandwagon, so it's inevitable as far as I'm concerned, that buses across the country will in the not so distant future be regulated. Whether that be under QCS rules, or new legislation as part of regional devolution. Tories seem to favour the sort of PPP model that QCS offers, and slots in nicely with their SME model that they expect large enterprises to adopt. Hence QCS offering the opportunity for several independents to place a consortium bid.
This isn't my pro-QCS stance talking, but simply looking at the reality of the political situation.
Looking at the North East specifically. Do people honestly think that the likes of NECA chair, Simon Henig, aren't going to look at a Tyne and Wear implementation of QCS, and think that they'd like a bit of this for their own councils? I read that Durham have had to make even more bus service cuts than Northumberland, with about 29% slashed off their budget.
