(28 Jun 2021, 10:44 am)Andreos1 wrote Because they're big enough to survive without them?
Because they're running subsidised services and in the not too distant past, suddenly realised it was viable after Nexus awarded it to someone else?
Or because they rely on Nexus to dig them out of a whole when a commercial decision negatively aftects passengers?
The one works both ways, as we've seen last week. I wonder what would have happened with all these contracts that GCT are no longer operating, if the big three operators all refused to take on the work (given that they may or may not have been rejected in the Tender exercise already)
I largely agree with your comments about services that have suddenly become commercially viable. I think you've mentioned the 97, but I remember Go North East were awarded the 22/24 in Durham, before Arriva decided it was commercially viable after all.
But the tendering process that Nexus uses is hugely problematic and does not provide good value imo. It's also overcomplicated from what it needs to be. A better system would be a pot of funding that operators can bid for, if they'd like to continue to run a commercial service into hours where they feel its commercially viable. That would have to be supported by a business case, financials and passenger data. The PTE/LTA can then decide if the service is socially necessary and support it, without any disruption to customers.
The tender process creates a race to the bottom for a start, forcing operators to drive down conditions to remain 'competitive', it provides no continuity of service (ticket acceptance for example) and we see completely different operating standards; missing NSAs on the Washington locals and the impact on those that need them was spoken about on this forum previously. I'm also not a fan of seeing operators more than happy to take secured work on, but take no commercial risk in improving the bus network we have.
Hopefully Enhanced Partnerships will change this, but we'll see what the consultation period and proposals bring...