(29 Dec 2021, 8:54 pm)Dan wrote To be fair under an Enhanced Partnership, there’s work that the operators can be doing with or without a BSIP.

Rationalising corridors with competition, coordinating frequencies and having joint ticketing arrangements is what is right for the customer, and, ultimately, what is right for the operator. The days of competition are gone, now. Collaborative working and partnership is the new age of deregulation.

The BSIP remains fictitious at this stage and it’ll be interesting to see how the money, should any be received, is divvied out. Is it more important for example to maintain services, if operators cannot continue running them because it is unsustainable in a post-Covid world, or is it better to use that money to provide increased frequencies on ‘super bus’ corridors? It’s interesting to note that frequency is no longer king, according to a recent passenger survey.


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Of course, there's plenty that can be done without a formal document agreeing to play nicely, but it concerns me that it's only happening now. Joint ticketing arrangements and acting in the interests of the customer have been long-standing issues spanning over decades, so it shouldn't have taken a pandemic and when everyone's back is against the wall in terms of on-going funding to get on the same page. It's not a good way of doing business and it leads to irrational decision making.

I reluctantly agree that BSIP remains fictitious until we get the formal announcement from the Government. As I've commented before, whoever has agreed to and supported this plan and subsequent bid for funding is living in a dream world. They may as well have requested Bentley limos in 24 carat gold bodywork providing a DRT service on the Coast Road, because they've got just as much chance of getting what they've actually asked for.

The next challenge is going to have to be to work out whether that three-way split of the £804m becomes pro-rata on what is actually granted, or indeed if its deemed more money needs to go towards funding of services instead. The plan in it's current form cannot function without significant funding in each of three categories, yet the availability of on-going funding (BSOG/BRG, as I understand), is subject to an Enhanced Partnership plan being in place.

Rationalising corridors and frequencies, whilst maintaining services, I'd agree is a more customer focused approach right now than focusing on Superbus networks, ensuring ticket acceptance throughout, e.g. Hexham to Newcastle on the 10/X84/X85/685. This should also apply to routes where there isn't competition, as operators aren't great at doing this with their own services. 

I was actually looking for some data on journey improvements when I replied to a post the other day, as on the 2019 Transport Focus survey, frequency was still in the top 4. The weekly bus user survey that they're running paints a similar picture, if you break the result down with age as a demographic. See attached.