GM Buses fights back
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• Greater Manchester Buses, the UK's biggest operator outside London, has become the first deregulated company to publish financial results for a full trading year, which show a loss of 21.76 million on turnover of 2103.8 million — but the company is "now trading in the black", says the company chairwoman Val Stevens.
The company competes with some 38 rivals in what is one of the most tightly contested cities in the country, New figures will not be published until October, the end of GM Buses' financial year.
The company says the loss is high because of "exceptional circumstances", including public lack of confidence in buses after deregulation, and legislation that forced the company to freeze its services for three months after going private. Only by drastic cost-cutting did it avoid a predicted 28 million loss in its first year, it says.
GM Buses, which faces strong competition in South Manchester from United Transport-owned Bee Line Buzz company, is putting more emphasis on its Little Gem mini-buses, and now runs 361 of them. Competition in all areas of Greater Manchester is becoming more intense, says chief executive Ralph Roberts, but he warns that several minibus-only operators could go under when they are forced to replace their vehicles after three years.
Competition since deregulation has been fierce, but fair, and only one operator has gone out of business in Manchester, says Roberts. Stevens commends the efforts of all GM Buses employees in helping the company perform so well.