(4 hours ago)Adrian wrote TfL unveils transformational 'Buses for London' as the capital's publicly owned bus company
https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-...us-company
- Park Royal Depot confirmed as first operational base of Transport for London's new publicly owned bus company
- Route 6 will become the first service to operate as part of 'Buses for London' from late 2027 with depot leased until 2033
- The depot will support around 100 zero-emission buses as TfL continues to deliver a greener bus network
Plans have been welcomed by Unite, suggesting that "Outsourcing to private companies hasn’t worked well for workers or passengers, and for too long bus workers have been subjected to intolerable working conditions and passengers have experienced worsening services while bus firms and their shareholders rake in huge profits."
The CPT, on the other hand, have criticised the plan. They claim that passengers “do not need a new public bus operator" and that "TfL focus and investment should be on where services users will actually feel the difference: tackling congestion, giving buses priority, and getting London moving.”
Either way, I'd suspect the City regions will be watching this one progress very closely.
It's about time imo. There's just so little benefit for this type of franchising imo, especially the way places like Liverpool are doing it
If you're setting the timetables, setting the fares, setting the way fares are collected, own the depots, (own the buses if it's Liverpool), then what on earth are we actually paying for?
All the hard bits are already done. It's just privatisation for the sake of it. The same privatisation which is heavily criticised for rail.
Mind that said there's some space for it, especially for places up here like Stanhope, Wooler etc where it's actually useful as there's no point building a depot for 2 or 3 routes and taking on those overheads when there's local companies around to pick it up instead who are already based there but franchising the big 3's network is a waste of money imo.