(14 Sep 2021, 5:53 am)Charles41 wrote I feel greater use should be made of the legislation that allows taxi firms to run bus services. This is used in Tyne & Wear by Nexus in parts of the county.
It would be ideal for rural areas of Northumberland and County Durham. Let's say for example you use a taxi firm from Morpeth on a route to Wallington Hall. Chances are you'll be employing someone with good local knowledge. You'll be using say an eight seater minibus that can also be used for school contracts and general taxi work. You'll be able to negotiate narrow country lanes and pick/up drop off in isolated locations. All that would be needed is training the operator in ticketing options and customer service requirements. With good publicity you could make a success of it never mind encouraging local bus use.
It could also work in areas such as Hartlepool on evenings and Sundays. There are two private hire operators in Hartlepool (23 and Blue line). Use a wheelchair accessible 8 seater after conducting a survey to find out where people wish to travel the most. Then get some publicity in place.
Charles
Why would taxi firms want to do that though? If the bus service doesn't exist in the first place, then the taxi companies have the monopoly.
A better solution would be to allow local authorities to run their own municipal bus companies again, which would allow the commercial gap to be plugged without giving more work to the private sector.