(Yesterday, 4:23 pm)Busadvocate wrote Stability will be a big win.
And also, hopefully, a performance incentive/penalty  system built into the franchise contracts that should improve reliability. In the deregulated system, the only real sanction for failing to operate commercial buses has been the sense of fouling their own financial nest, but that has not been strong enough to prevent prolonged periods (years) of v poor operation. Both GNE and Arriva have been v poor at times from some depots; Stagecoach has seemingly had fewer visible problems, but maybe they hid things better. Even services under contract to Nexus etc have seemingly had their problems (with GCT etc) so fingers crossed for something robust.

As with Manchester and the Weaver network, there's some pretty robust measures in with a carrot and stick approach.

Operators can earn incentives for exceeding targets but equally earn deductions if performance falls short linked to reliability, punctuality and failure to operate
Rectification plans and intervention

Where performance falls short, the Delivery Body (DB) can require corrective action through formal contractual remedies. The plan specifically refers to rectification plans and intervention by the DB. It can then lead to termination etc etc

One benefit is we've got the likes of Metroline and Stagecoach who are really well prepped and versed to run these things, we're not the pilot