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Blundred hits east London
Page 18
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• Harry Blundred marked the launch of Transit Holdings' Docklands minibus service last week with call for total PSV deregulation in London.
"In all of Britain, except for London and Ulster, any competent operator can run a bus service. In London, while competition is allowed under the 1985 Transport Act, an operator must make an application, face objections from LRT or the boroughs, and receive permission to operate specific services. On the other hand, London Buses can do just what it wants simply by giving itself permission," he said.
Blundred's views have been coloured by the struggle he has had to push through his Docklands minibus plan. Transit Holdings was taken to a public hearing but in the end persuaded the Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner that the new hail-and-ride routes would be in
the public interest (CM 16-22 March).
The first services (Tower Hill to Wapping and Mile End to the Isle of Dogs) start this week. Immediate introduction .of all seven licenced services is being delayed by driving test waiting lists, but Blundred expects everything to be in place by mid-June.
Blundred aims to bring "a friendly, almost rural bus system to the heart of London". He is convinced that minibuses are ideal for the deregulated market. Ford Transits are the preferred workhorse, having proved themselves in service with Devon General in Exeter. Transit Holdings will use more than a hundred Transits, some transferred from Blundred's Torbay operation.
Blundred has also slammed LRT for banning Docklands Transit from the Capital's senior citizen fare scheme and Travelcard system. He called LRT's zonal fare policy "zany" but said he would integrate with it as far as possible.
Blundred has sunk some £.4 million into this project and predicts an annual turnover of about the same amount. He stressed his desire to avoid a bus war with London Buses: "If LB tries to run us off the road the losses it incurs can be spread over a huge group of companies and probably absorbed — but I don't think that will happen," he said.