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Would legislation encourage cut-price operation?
Page 86
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by lain Skewis, director of Industrial Development. Marketing Division, Highlands
and Islands Development Board CONCERN but not despondency is perhaps the correct description of the attitude in the Highlands and Islands to the threat to the regional bus network that has arisen in the past 12 months.
As elsewhere in Britain, the State bus concerns in 1970 had a poor year and now feel unable to continue to crosssubsidize their operations in rural areas. They have had to cut out their parcels service and seek subsidies for the others that are in deficit. In fact, in the Highlands .and Islands the position has been worsened for Highland Omnibuses, the main State company, because they inherited a whole range of heavy loss-making MacBrayne services in the West and in the Islands — services which had formerly been covered by global subsidy paid direct by the Scottish Development Department to MacBrayne. This has been estimated to amount to at least £70,000 a year.
The bus situation generally has been further affected by the reaction of the Post Office to the fact that the 1968 Transport Act clearly laid the responsibility for rural bus services on local authorities. This has meant that the Post Office took a hard look at the cost of bus route contracts whenever they came up for review. If an increased rate was being asked for, the Post Office, clearly conscious that the social responsibility was not its own, considered the position relative to the cost of doing the job itself with Post Office vehicles.
In this changing and fairly complex situation the Highlands and Islands Development Board has tried to assist and co-ordinate the efforts of operators, local authorities and the Post Office to prevent any large-scale loss of bus services in the region. In most instances routes shed by Highland Omnibuses have been replaced by privately operated services. For example, the whole of the ex-MacBrayne Ardnamurchan area services — 51.5 route-miles — were taken over by local operator Allan MacDonald who with Highland Board guidance and a substantial local authority subsidy, now provides the service. In this instance he had to take over the mail contract at a considerably lower rate than that previously paid by the Post Office to MacBrayne. The new operator has successfully boosted traffic with lower fares and has integrated small freight traffic with the passenger service.
Highland Omnibuses have now sought subsidies from the local authorities for a whole range of other services operating below average costs. Their applications have met mixed reaction but it seems that most councils may negotiate an agreed sum with Highland for a 12to 14-month holding operation and then get down to looking closely at the services. Inverness county council has recently agreed to provide a 14-month subsidy totalling £47,500. After the authority collects its 50 per cent grant from the Scottish Development Department and receives rates support grant on the balance the cost to the ratepayers will not be too great.
Personal senrices
In the Highlands and Islands a bus service is very often far more than a passenger carrying operation. It may embrace a wide range of personal services of which passenger carriage may not even be the major one. Urgent small consignments of freight such as milk, bread, newspapers, fresh fruit and vegetables and a variety of small parcels are carried, as is letter and parcel mail on many routes. It is common sense that these services should be integrated on the one vehicle and with an ever-increasing financial pressure on small consignment freight services it will be wise to retain this position.
It is partly because of this situation that the proposed changes in bus legislation are giving concern in the region. Under the new rules routes operated by small buses would be removed from the licensing procedures, but many of the key multi-purpose Highland routes are already operated by small buses; services, which by the combination of various forms of traffic, can just make enough to survive. If a competitor began a parallel operation the whole balance would be upset.
Experience has shown that the Highlands and Islands is very liable to this type of competition. With considerable unemployment and quite commonly under-employment there will always be a great temptation for the casual operator to enter the scene, buy a small vehicle and run alongside an existing service taking part of the traffic. This operator may be wholly without knowledge about what such operations cost and quite probably will go bust in a month or two, but in the meantime will have done grievous harm to the established operator. Where this is a big company it can no doubt survive such a situation — provided there isn't a succession of such rogue operators — but if it is a small man with very limited back-up financial resources he could go under to the severe detriment of the area. It's the old story that legislation suitable for rural England does not suit the Highlands of Scotland. The present state of affairs on thi licensing and operation of tours am excursions is generally agreed to be fa from satisfactory. However, the cun proposed in the legislative proposals migh well be worse than the disease. The presen difficulty is that tour licence holders ma] never operate or even offer a tour, yet wi oppose the entry of anyone else to the fiek What we really want is a situation whic gives the best possible opportunity for th effective operation of a tours programm from any centre.
The Highlands and Islands are a majc tourist area and the programme of da tours by Highland Omnibuses &al Inverness is operated over a lengthenin season with departure almost guarantee each day. It is certain that the propose legislative changes would give birth to number of other prospective tour operatoi from Inverness, spreading the traffic an doubtless providing booked loads th would be too small to justify operating tl tours. This will be most felt in the should+ weeks of the season where the need to bui up the tourist business is most urgent.
Integrated guide
It is summer tourist traffic on publ transport services in the Highlands at Islands that make it possible to provide tl wide range of services throughout the yeE The Highlands and Islands Developme Board has recognized this fact and over ti past few years has made every effort stimulate the tourist use of the regior transport services. Only in the Highlan and Islands can the tourist buy a fill detailed regional timetable showing eve available transport service including deta of how to get to places not on the pub transport network. Air, rail, bus, sh ferry and taxi are all there — a who integrated guide to the region's transpo To go along with the time-tables is large-scale full colour map and in 1972, co-operation with the Scottish Transpi Group, British Railways and mill private operators, there will be a n rover-type ticket. "The Highlands Islands Travelpass", covering the bulk rail. sea and bus services in the regi Priced at £12.50 for eight days in non-peak period and £14.50 in the pl months, it will be excellent value for traveller wanting to see the most varied attractive tourist region in Europe.