Carry on bussing
Page 16
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IT WOULD not require much imagination to visualise a senior Monopolies and Mergers Commission civil servant meeting his Department of Transport counterpart in a Whitehall pub early last week. "Oh, yes, the report on bus operators is ready," he might have said. "Yes, it is long and detailed, but your people won't like it. We didn't find anything embarrassing." The report could soon be forgotten, writes ALAN MILLAR.
If the inquiry (CMJuly 31) into the activities of Bristol Omnibus Company, Trent Motor Traction (both National Bus subsidiaries), Cardiff City Transport, and West Midlands PTE was expected to uncover evidence of the public being taken for a ride by the industry, then the six MMC members' efforts will be a disappointment. But they have come up with a few suggestions which could change the ways of the four operators, even if the industry at large remains untouched.
Competition "We have not found that any of the undertakings is abusing any monopoly situation existing in its favour, nor that in any matter falling within the questions referred to us is any of the undertakings pursuing a course of conduct which operates against the public interest," the report says.
It found that Cardiff and Trent both responded actively, either by increasing frequencies or lowering fares, when faced with competition from independents, and while it neither condoned nor approved this conduct, it accepted that this did not represent any abuse of monopoly. The alternative would have been to cut back on services, or seek more revenue support.
Subsidy Indeed, the industry's belief in subsidies and cross-subsidy survives the scrutiny of the MMC. It says operators should identify those routes which contribute to overheads and those which do not, and that it should be agreed with local authorities just how many unprofitable routes should be subsidised by the profitable ones. It also says that three-year agreements between operators and councils would help secure more stability.
As priorities, the MMC says that all operators should monitor their scheduling efficiency and operating efficiency, to establish how effectively their platform staff are being employed. At present, only WMPTE monitors scheduling efficiency, and only Bristol monitors operating efficiency.
All operators should take steps to strengthen and improve production planning and control in their workshps.
Investigations revealed that WMPTE sets itself load factor targets as an incentive for management to establish why there are variations from the plan. Cardiff carries out passenger counts every autumn, but neither of the NBC companies has a regular system for collecting such data for all of its routes.
All except WMPTE produce data showing the percentage of operating costs met by fares on individual routes, but Cardiff's details are not produced so frequently. The MMC says that they should all produce such information, either for individual routes or for groups of routes, at least on a quarterly basis.
Bus replacement decisions, it says, should be taken along better evaluated lines, so that broad estimates of likely maintenance expenditure can be made for buses nearing the end of their lives. Trent does this already, and the MMC says this helps it compare the capital cost of purchasing a new vehicle with the operating costs of an existing one. In the MMC's view, this is particularly important now that bus grant is being phased out, and annual testing is being introduced.
It also wants all undertakings to operate and conform to annually produced three-year operational plans. This would tie in with the proposals for revenue support agreements, would correspond to the normal time span for bus purchases, and would represent a sensible time cycle for timetable and service revisions.
Off-bus sales Among the lesser recommendations, it says that all of the undertakings should try to increase the proportion of revenue collected off the bus. Provided this does not result in a loss of revenue, it will improve the security of fares collected, and will reduce the time spent at bus stops, and not moving in traffic. WMPTE told the MMC that over 50 per cent of its revenue corn* from off-bus ticket sales, and figure for Cardiff is 40 per cent.
Dual sourcing The MMC was also unhapj that WMPTE and the two NE companies depend on or manufacturer for most of thE vehicles at present. In the case WMPTE, it says West Midlan( County Council was wrong interfere with WMPTE's de( sions to buy first Volvo Ail! and, later, Leyland Olympi buses, and recommends that 1 operators should determir their own purchasing policies.
In the case of NBC, it accep that some central influen1 should apply over subsidiarie bus buying policies, but it is u happy with its almost comple dependence on Leyland pr ducts bought because of ti joint NBC/Leyland ownership Bus Manufacturers Holdings. accepts that there are benefits be gained from such a clo 'working relationship, but it S8' these by no means offset the a vantages to be gained from bu ing from at least two suppliers.
But one piece of single sour ing which the MMC might e dorse would be the purchas wherever possible, of GardnE engined buses. Much of the b sis for this view comes fro Trent's experience with Brist VRTs, a type which gave troub in WMPTE and Cardiff servic and annual maintenance cos for Trent's Leyland-poweri VRTs worked out at £6,043 p bus, against only £3,059 for tl Gardner-powered examples. It now fitting secondhand Gardn engines in the vehicles, and es mates that the conversion co will be recouped after f i) months.
There also is a curio( paragraph about WMPTE's org nisational structure, in which says: "Since 1974, WMPTE h been subject to continual rec ganisations and it is not cle whether the best form has v been achieved. However, v recommend that after compl( ing the present organisatior changes, WMPTE should, for time, limit organisation changes to those necessary secure specific efficiency it provements." Carry on as y( are, one presumes.