(08 Jul 2013, 5:03 pm)Andreos1 wrote The only way Nexus can survive going forward is to take this QCS by the scruff of the neck and generate a turnover/profit to reinvest into services.

And how do you think GNE invested in the vehicles for the TEN, the forthcoming Mercs for the M1, the Versas for the 58, and the Angels (excluding the bit paid for by Green Bus Fund - ie., the difference between the cost of a diesel bus and the hybrid gubbins), the new Riverside depot... and Arriva are investing in buses and depots, too...

The 'profits' ARE being reinvested. Nexus' financial difficulties are a self-inflicted wound - while costs have been going up, the ITA froze the levy on the five districts and refunded to them some of Nexus' reserves, as well as having to fund the shortfall on the Metro reinvigoration project. Oh, while Metro ridership has been falling and 3 millon extra passengers were carried by bus.

The whole reason Margaret Thatcher privatised buses in the first place was because the metropolitan areas like Tyne and Wear were spending money like it was going out of fashion. And they still are. The 'battleship grey' buses that I see carry fresh air through country fields - at my expense! Metro gets 'reinvigorated' yet can't cover its costs and fewer people use it - at my expense!

At least when I buy a bus ticket I can see how GNE, Arriva and Stagecoach are spending some of it on better buses - I wouldn't trust our local councillors to do anything other than spend my hard earned dosh on their own pet projects (ie., a money-hungry tram system that I never use). Nexus' idea of reinvesting profit is to dip into bus fare payers' pockets to give the money to Metro passengers.

Oh, and another thing - while council workers have had their wages frozen for the last four years, bus drivers have had modest (below inflation) increases. If we go for contracts, the austerity will seep from our councils into the bus system. Expect a wage freeze for bus employees, followed by service cuts when the councils run out of money (which they inevitably will).