(16 Aug 2022, 3:15 pm)Ambassador wrote I don't think there's the political will or the public appetite for nationalisation.  People like the idea of it but the reality isn't all its cracked up to be. The buses in manchester will forever end up being a stick to beat Burnham with. 

It doesn't help that the vast majority of passengers will be of the lower demo and less likely to vote versus a private car user eiither.

I think the appetite is there and is greater than it ever has been, now that we're seeing the private sector all but collapse in trying to deliver vital public services. And more so losing interest, now that their oil well has dried up.

I think 5-10 years ago, regulation of buses in Greater Manchester (or anywhere else, for that matter), would have been used as a stick to beat whichever political leader up with. The difference now is that the buses right across England are either at or beyond breaking point. Project deregulation has completely failed, and I'd bet even most of the industry, outside of the 10% club, are now accepting this as fact.

Regulation isn't without it's own challenges though, and one will be ongoing funding. We only have to look at TFL, the NHS or Councils up and down England, to see how politically motivated funding models have become. It needs a Government willing to view public transport in the same light as any other national infrastructure, and that needs to be more than a glossy strategy document.

(16 Aug 2022, 7:57 pm)Andreos1 wrote Not sure about that.

It's not as if the taxpayer isn't contributing millions in handouts to these PLCs since Covid came along.
Obviously they were already getting hundreds of thousands prior.

Might as well cut out the middle man and send it from one Government department to another, rather than continue sending it from a Government department to a clueless commercial team - so they can 'spaff it up a wall'

Regulation and centralisation would be a disaster. In my opinion it'll only work with a proper devolution model and regional control of transport networks.