(08 May 2021, 7:33 am)Micheal Aaron wrote Then the big questions is why do nexus give them contacts. There giving more contracts to them and they haven't got the buses or drivers. It's no wonder  L&B are having to run the SNS contract on there behalf. Even the Ferry Replacement contract. God knows why GNE lost that

The simple answer is money isn't it?  Public purse is empty, LAs (who fund Nexus) are skint, so they are going for cheapest which inevitably will mean a bit of a race to the bottom.  Under procurement law Nexus will have to go by what is in the tenders and if GCT say they can do it for X price, and demonstrte sufficently how that will be done, they would have to award based on scoring of bids.  If GCT know they can still make money by winning contract and then subcontracting; and assuming the contracts allow for subcontracting, arguably what is wrong with this approach?  The bigger question is, if all of this happens and the operator then fails to deliver, why are they not performance managing the contract, issuing penalties etc - if indeed they are not.  The points about general risk of putting all of your tendered eggs in one basket are surely something nexus ought to be considering though...wonder what their contingency plans are if GCT go bust etc.

In terms of the criticism of GCT as an operator and their fleet, to the avergae punter, is the accessible bus provided by GCT really that much different to the easy access bus provided by another operator?  I read comments somewhere about GCT buses being an embarrassment and held together by duct tape, yet there's at least one of GNEs Streetlites with tape all over the front of it in frontline service, and least said about the state of some of Arriva's fleet the better.