Staff bid for Busways
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The 1,800 workforce at Busways in the North East has put forward a multi-million pound proposal to buy out the company from the Newcastlebased Passenger Transport Authority. .
Workers and management representatives recently approached the PTA over a buyout and last week the organisation approved in principle.
The bid has now been put forward to Secretary of State for Transport Paul Channon for approval. Financial advisers have been called in by the PTA and they are working on the valuation of the firm and the terms and conditions of sale. Last month Busways announced an operating profit of £3.2 million in its first 17 months of trading after deregulation in October 1986.
Busways is split into nine different divisions. City Busways and Newcastle Busways run services in the Newcastle area. The group also operates South Shields Busways, Sunderland Busways, Economic Bus Services, Favourite Bus Services, Blue Bus Services in Ponteland and Northumberland, Busways Engineering and a coach division called Armstrong Galley.
It has a fleet of almost 600 vehicles — around 120 mini buses, 400 double-deckers, 50 single-deckers and 30 coaches, which cover 29 million passenger kilometres a year and carry 100 million passengers.
The Passenger Transport Authority, which incorporates five district councils, says it was responsive to the bid because of the uncertainty of Busway's future. It says: "There is a possibility that large metropolitan-controlled bus companies will be forced on to the open market. Therefore, we approved the buyout proposal as it would allow the company to continue in its own way without any major disruptions to its services." The Transport and General Workers Union, which represents around 1,500 of Busway's staff, have given its seal of approval to the buyout. Joe Mills, the union leader of the company's staff, considers it would be in the best interests of staff, management and passengers.
He says: "We objected six months ago over a buyout because we felt public transport should stay with the PTA. In the past few months, however, the future looked less certain and the TGWU felt it should go forward with this buyout rather than let Busways be taken over by a predator."