London Buses cuts losses
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• Traffic congestion in gen eral and illegal parking in particular were cited as two main reasons why London Buses still has problems keeping to its schedules. However, it completed its first year as a subsidiary of London Regional Transport satisfactorily, according to the LRT annual report.
London Buses reduced its annual loss before grants from £185million in 1984/5 to £140million during the past financial year. Its productivity improved by 4.6% and substantially exceeded the 2.5% target set by former Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley.
Eight % of LRT's bus mileage was put out to tender, involving a total of 56 routes. Of these London Buses retained only 26, with National Bus Company subsidiaries taking on 22 and independent operators eight.
London Buses managing director John Telford Beasley has warned that the productivity increase is not enough to cope with the competition from low-cost operators in the suburbs. New package deals with the trade unions to get rid of unhelpful agreements negotiated in the past are necessary.