(14 Mar 2021, 5:28 pm)busmanT wrote I would have expected the quality items to be part of the standard contract specification by now!

Times must be hard I suppose, as the secured services must have lost at least as many passengers during COVID-19 as the commercial ones. Many of these were no doubt low usage services before the pandemic.

Are there also contract changes from a date later in March (or have I missed the posts)?

Sounds like they've moved completely to the 'Lowest Cost' criteria rather than the usual 'Most Economically Advantageous Tender' criteria. I appreciate that there are long-standing funding issues, as a result of limited resource from central Government, but I'm unsure how Nexus view this as the best use of public finance.  Lowest cost often offers very little for those that use these services.

Extremely disappointing, given that these contracts will commence at a time when there should be collaborative working between operators and local authorities to encourage people back on to public transport.