(23 Jul 2020, 4:30 pm)James101 wrote There must be a system in place for NHS trusts to subsidies commercial stagecarraige services as so many already do. Newcastle, Central Manchester, Nottingham, Derby at least all have this arrangement in some form.Oh yes there is and it needs a partnership to work but last time I suggested it to them I just got told to do one basically and they were only interested in taxi companies tendering for it.
I'll give Stagecoach credit for the £1.80 flat fare in Hartlepool as a positive move, ideal for a self contained network. The system should be simple to understand to be attractive. We can probably all agree services are never going to get any better under the current dysfunctional relationship between operator and authority.
It's also clear Hartlepool is never going to make any meaningful profit for Stagecoach. Despite this, if there was any ever radical new deal proposed by TVCA to take control of services or expand Tees Flex you can bet Stagecoach will fight tooth and nail against it to stop the concept being proven and rolled out elsewhere. Everybody loses, sad.
The only issue I've got with franchising is I don't trust the councils/MPs who would be in charge to run a growing network, I've seen too many times them fighting over buses not running to places that would never be commercially viable in a million years. The services Stockton Council run that are only open to residents are a good example of how they're only in it for themselves, they run the buses for free but only if you're a member of the transport scheme.
The potential franchising scheme in Manchester is hardly a glowing reference for councils taking over operation of a bus network either. Sadly it's going to take someone to take a punt on one to prove it doesn't work.