(31 Jul 2020, 8:24 pm)Big O wrote Wasn't disputing that but its a bit obvious that the franchisee would have to purchase the product and its a long term project but something in years to come would be profitable providing the right people run it and I'm sure some companies wouldn't turn down cash upfront for their services especially during this time.

I'm sure Manchester has started, by the way, some Diamond North West and Stagecoach routes have already swapped hands as a result of awards. It's not propaganda, it works when it is managed correctly. There are either incentives for good service levels or penalising for poor service levels. Both of which will drive up the customer experience.

Or, as we've seen with the trains companies, it may just end up with operators overbidding on things they can't deliver. It's not as if franchising is the be all and end all.

While in an ideal world franchising would work, I just can't possibly see a way for it to work up here, it'd end up doing more harm than good