(21 Feb 2015, 3:38 pm)roar wrote Must agree with citaro5284 here, the two can not be compared. Metro is running on rail's, only thing that gets in its way is other metro's or national rail trains between Pelaw and Sunderland. Buses have traffic to deal with, tickets to issue, customers to enquires to deal with. And the worst at the moment is incompetent council's, non-existant parking control, poor bus stop positioning and just poor planning.
Just to give a few examples of the problems buses face in Sunderland due to council involvement
No traffic control on Vine Place/Holmeside or at other problem areas like Pallion, Southwick ect.
Traffic lights that are set up against buses. John Street to West Wear street is on green then when they change to red the lights that take you onto Wearmouth bridge change from green to red, then the confusion to deal with from other drivers as the traffic lights here are signaled as NO RIGHT TURN so effectively nothing should then turn right onto Wearmouth Bridge. Badly positioned bus stop infrastructure, bus stops positioned that close to the curb its impossible to pull up at the bus stop close to the curb because the bus stop pole, shelter or other street furniture will either remove the near side mirror or miss judge you position by an inch and your scrapping the front corner of the bus.
Anyway enough about that and back on subject of the Tyne and Wear metro. Nexus only franchised it out because they new it was about to crumble. DB were basically given a spanner to try and tighten a screw, why is nobody shouting for nexus to take back control??? The only thing that should have happened was that they should have been made to sell it into private ownership. DB, First, Go-Ahead, Stagecoach or any of the other private transport company's would have made the system make a profit, anyone that says they couldn't is just saying the system will never be profitable and we as tax payers will constantly be paying to try and make something work that never will.
Quite amazing.
I have said something similar and backed it up with facts and figures in the QCS thread, yet get shot down in flames - with people justifying taxpayers funding a system as 'a benefit to society'.
How can it be acceptable for the bus industry to obtain several handouts, but not the Metro?
Using the 'benefit to society' logic, isn't it a benefit that the Metro has received all of this money?
Whatever justification there may be for one, surely the status quo needs to be maintained for the other?
Metro passengers benefit from the modernisation programme and passengers benefit via everything the bus operators receive...
Or is that not the case?