(26 Feb 2025, 10:57 pm)Storx wrote To be fair can't disagree with him though, for once. I have a feeling some of these franchising plans will end up being costly for the tax payer, much more than a few subsidised services.

I have a feeling the NECA one could backfire massively as it's all easy to get growth in somewhere in Newcastle, but get the same growth in Bishop Auckland isn't happening and without any growth it's just an expense since Arriva and GoAhead make more money from a contract vs commercial so the money has to come from somewhere.

Municipals bus operators yes, as it removes the shareholders but not franchising as it effectively just protects shareholders from any losses and throws it all at the tax payer instead and there's a lot of weak routes in the North East.

I feel some like Kim are just jumping on a bandwagon ignoring that the NECA area is very different to London and Manchester and London bleeds money anyway.

It's not like the franchising of trains exactly went well which this model isn't exactly a million miles away from...

As much as you and others keep bringing up the cost, have you considered what the cost is of not delivering a franchising scheme? What is the cost to the economy, say for people not to be able to take jobs because of the impossible/unreasonable commute, people missing interviews because it's unreliable, developments struggling because of transport links and businesses failing because they're not getting the footfall?

As Andreos1 has suggested multiple times before, we're already paying a fortune for not having a franchising scheme anyway. We hand out millions to commercial operators and we have no control over it, except for where it's a contracted service.

You may say London bleeds money, but how many people in London have ever genuinely turned down work due to not being able to get there, or not being able to cover shifts due to unsociable hours and a lack of transport? I'd go as far as saying none. Transport is a public service and it should be treated as such. There's a cost to operate it, it doesn't necessarily break even, but the benefits outweigh the cost.

As much as I didn't support Kim as a candidate for Mayor, you have to remember that she was elected on a manifesto commitment to deliver this. So what you call bandwagon jumping is actually delivering a commitment.