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What price psv in the Eighties?

3rd May 1980, Page 63
3rd May 1980
Page 63
Page 64
Page 63, 3rd May 1980 — What price psv in the Eighties?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Are our bus operators getting a fair deal. Noel IV illier reports

PUBLIC TRANSPORT professionals cannot feel very encouraged by the noises currently being made by the Government regarding their industry.

Despite energy crises and a marketing campaign, Britain's bargain bus services are being threatened by increasing costs, reducing subsidies and support, increased quality controls, and a general lack of awareness to what the bus industry see as the advantages it can offer the public.

Parliamentary Secretary at the Department of Transport Kenneth Clarke is on record as saying that there is -no defensible case for claiming that all forms of public transport are entitled to some kind of public subsidy'•.

He said subsidy can mean that "'those members of the public who find it convenient to travel by public transport get bar/ of their fare paid by other -nembers of the public who do -lot or cannot' Mr Clarke has also said that :here is a danger with a -generalised system of subsidy .hat it encourages waste, inefThiency and over-manning 'from which the transport inlustries are no more immune han others-.

The fact that in Britain road )ublic transport gives the cornnunity a far better deal in inancial terms than similar indertakings in the rest of urope appears to be almost otally overlooked in Parliament nd by the public In Europe the revenue most mblic transport operators get rom the farebox represents only small proportion of his costs. kit in Britain the Government nd many local authorities echo :enneth Clarke and see no reaon why public transport should eeci more money from outside ie farebox. This is obviously intended to promote efficiency in the transport operations, but in many cases is causing increasing fares. which are making private car usage — despite rising fuel costs — more economic for many than travel by bus.

Britain's bus operators, both large and small, are in the main reacting positively to the ;Government and the public by route revision and , new methods.

• Many National Bus Company subsidiaries have been working closely with their public transport co-ordinating local services to trim down services to meet current demand and produce a viable network.

The NBC Market Analysis Projects involve identifying and establishing passenger usage patterns with the aid of core outer and also allow the cornpanics and counties to identify routes that are clearly not viable in themselves yet provide a valuable community service and thus need financial support.

Municipal operators too are reacting to the current financially hard tirns and introducing attractive ticketing deals and route revisions.

• In Scotland, for instance, NBC is assisting Scottish Bus Group Companies to "MAPits routes to give it a viable start to the Eighties.

Britain's seven PTEs seem to be working to speed up oneman operation boarding times by promoting a selection of multi-ride and travel pass schemes which appear to be widely accepted and are already producing more attractive bus possibilities for passengers.

Engineers are looking at bus specifications in terms of total vehicle life to ensure the most economic operation, but bus professionals and politicians do not always see eye to eye.

A recent example of political interference in bus management was the West Midlands PTE's decision to order new buses from Metro-Carnmell Weymann at Birmingham and Volvo at !rvine.

The PTA turned' down the Volvo as the vehicles, although British built, were not to be manufactured in the West Midlands. The British content of the Volvo B55 is claimed to be equal to that of the M OW Metrobus.

One PTE that has not produced a discount multi-ride or bus pass scheme is South Yorkshire, Here the Passenger Transport Authority has followed a policy of encouraging public transport by extracting revenue from rates and so This policy seems popular with the public, Sheffield traffic moves freely and buses are crowded at all times of the day.

Passenger loadings have prompted the SYPTE to look for -innovative methods for efficient public transport and the PTE is the first British operator to boast a full articulated bus service.

Kenneth Clarke recently said that he had seen no evidence to suggest that generalised subsidy of public transport actually looks at any "reduction in private car use in energy saving on any significant scale". Perhaps SYPTE could provide him with the evidence.

One operator in the British bus world coming in for continual political and public criticism is poor old London Transport. Despite recent improvements in bus service performance levels, LT is still all too easy to criticise.

However a mild winter, the bus district organisation and new vehicles may help the capital's bus services to improve. Traffic congestion and staff shortages, though, remain as enormous problems facing LT bus chiefs.

LT also manages to astound the bus industry — it is currently disposing of hundreds of "unreliable"' Daimler Fleetline buses. These vehicles, however, are finding their way into many municipal bus fleets and provide an economic solution to shortterm bus shortages.

Most of these operators who have taken on the Fleetlines have been impressed by the design and condition of the buses.

How LT can justify its premature disposal policy in terms of total vehicle life is something of a mystery, although the fact that the Fleetlines do not come up to the reliability standard needed for London operation is the main defence.

The most likely effect of this policy, which also included recertifying old open-platform Routemasters, is to delay the coming of further one-man operation in Central London.

LT has said that no fare collection system has been found to produce acceptable boarding times for one-man operation in the capital, although it sees no reason why a total flat-fare system could not work in Central

London — it works in Hong Kong. where passenger levels are higher and traffic congestion at least as bad.

The extension of one-man operation into Central London would involve a major restructuring of the route network, as -shorter routes would be needed to produce an economic fare.

In Hong King different routes have different flat fares and the fare varies according to the route length, no tickets are issued and no change is given. If the passenger does not have the right fare he pays more, could this system not work in London?

London Transport has recently extended flat-fare operation into Harrow and Havering areas of London as an experiment. I often use buses in Harrow and was surprised to find no obvious on-bus evidence of the flat fare.

The driver still issues a ticket and uses his ticket machine. However loading times do seem to have improved.

It will be interesting to learn of the effect of experiments on revenues. Clearly this type of 'flat-fare operation will not produce the simplicity needed for Central London operation.

The Transport Act will threaten the monopolies of British bus operators. It will be interesting to see if the post-act period of conciliation will produce a new breed of private rural bus operators.

Will some municipal bus operators expand into neighbouring NBC territory, and could they provide a more costeffective job?

Will the network be threatened by competition from lucrative routes stopping the cross-subsidisation ot less viablE ones? Will the status quc remain?

Will financial restraint anc limited financial support These and many other ques • tions will be answered in the coming decade.


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