(03 Apr 2026, 5:31 pm)Busadvocate wrote As the work awarded to Tower seems to require 73 schooltme-only duties, it requires a very big "smaller operator" - considerably bigger than any of the operations of the "not big group" firms involved around the north east scene. As the Merseyside work is peak-only, implying part-time drivers, I would have thought finding enough drivers might well be a challenge, especially if it is all out of one depot. Most of the schooltime local bus services up here - Nexus services and their counterparts in Northumberland and Durham - are done by full-time drivers as part of integrated depot operations at multiple locations.
It's a bit of an odd one tbh, I imagine a fair handful of drivers will be TUPE'd from existing operators - there must be an existing market for drivers doing scholars only, maybe those who are semi-retired? Having said that, perhaps at independents they may well employ drivers who just do their particular scholars run, but I imagine for those operated by the likes of Arriva and Stagecoach both the drivers and indeed the vehicles may then run onto normal service work. I wonder if these services TT have done are primarily those which do run independently i.e don't interwork or whether it includes those that currently do. Although maybe less efficient not necessarily a bad thing - I do find it a little bit cheeky when passengers have to suffer in the mid-afternoon when a run gets dropped on school days during what might otherwise be say a regular 15 min frequency. Not sure how much that happens in Merseyside compared to up here in the NE tbh!