(25 Feb 2014, 8:12 am)Dan wrote Of course this does not mean every bus belonging to the Go-Ahead parent company can refuel for as little as 49p per litre.
There are instances whereby 'outstationed' vehicles refuel away from Go North East premises - I believe that the vehicles based at Peterlee for example refuel on council-owned premises, with a deal set up there.
That figure will, if I am correct, exclude additional resources required for refuelling on modern-day vehicles at the very least. Recently manufactured vehicles such as the Mercedes Citaro and the Volvo B8RLE all require a substance called "AdBlue" (Google it if you're not familiar with it).This will come at an additional cost - how significant this additional cost is, I do not know.
All major bus operators 'hedge' their fuel price, basically gambling the price for a set amount of time.
They agree in advance with a supplier to pay an amount per litre, which is fixed, irrespective if the price goes up (or less likely) goes down.
These deals come to an end and negotiations set up again.
The reduction on BSOG is also a big part. Operators cannot claim BSOG for gross contract services now, such as Durham Park & Ride. This BSOG goes directly to the contractor, so the costs of operation increases again.