05 September 2015

Comments

As you may have seen I have not published any of the comments left over the last day or so. This is because I am having to have a rethink as to how I deal with comments.
I was at work reading my emails at lunch time when I came across this comment left on a previous post:

I never really post on this blog and thats because quite a few important comments that i've posted have been treated like spam by Mr Richardson, he's constantly biased in favour o PCB(probably cos he gets paid by them), his behaviour is typical of the 99% rivet counter enthusiasts who ruin the bus industry for everyone else (anon)


Now, as its anon, I have no idea what comments he is referring to, although I can guess at some of them.
First of all lets get one thing out of the way – I am not employed in any way by Plymouth Citybus and have never received any financial contribution from them. (It would be nice if they did!) Indeed I am not employed in the transport industry at all. Never have been. If I am being charitable I can see how it may look like I am biased in favour of Plymouth Citybus. When you have two main bus operators in the city and one is buying brand new buses and expanding services whilst the other is cutting back and clearly doesn't want to be here at all then its hard not to sound more positive for Citybus. Historically though I have always been more biased towards Western National  as when I was growing up in Plymouth I was always on Western National routes and caught them to school. Given the choice between at Atlantean or a Bristol FLF or VR, the Atlantean never stood a chance!
I may believe that Citybus have been doing a better job than First over the last few years but I am still very sad to see First leave the City. There have been periods when they were very much on the up and Citybus were the ones under attack and cutting back. The balance between the two operators has ebbed and flowed back and forwards quite a bit over the 40 years I have been interested.
Having said that I will be sad to see First leave, I do think that it will be good news for the city as I am sure Stagecoach will do a much better job, if only for the fact that they actually want to be here. I have watched as SC have taken over in North Devon and transformed what looked like a dead duck under First. I have watched the underperforming X80 transform overnight into GOLD with brand new high quality buses. Something First could have done at anytime but never did. I may look like a Citybus fan, but I am equally impressed by Stagecoach and welcome their investment and look forward to seeing what they can do in Plymouth.
The comment about 99% rivet counter enthusiasts is more puzzling. Yes I am an enthusiast. Always have been. I am not sure if I count myself as a rivet counter or not, but then I'm not that bothered by the term anyway. I am sure many readers will disagree with the bit about them ruining the bus industry for everyone else though. Many of the bus enthusiasts I know are actually in the industry.
So that covers me. That is where I am at. The big question I have is how to deal with comments. Do I even want to encourage comments anymore? The last month or so and the next month is clearly an upheaval and I know many staff have found it stressful. There has been a period where many staff at First have faced uncertain futures. That is always going to have an affect on the comments being left here. We saw it when Citybus were up for sale and under attack from First. I can understand that. Some of the comments I have held back were because they were making specific comments / allegations against Citybus (and some also against First) which would be unfair, and maybe even legally dangerous for me to post. There have been an awful lot of facts being given in comments which have clearly turned out to be rubbish. When I was publishing the details of the routes which SC were taking on, and more importantly not taking on, I was repeatedly being informed that I was talking absolute rubbish and that SC had to run a full network cus the council said that they had to. If it wasn't the council it was the traffic commissioner or the competition people. All I can say to that is that apart from the late addition of Saltash back to the network, the routes being run by Stagecoach are exactly as I reported they would be. The many people telling me I was wrong were clearly misinformed themselves. One thing I did get wrong was to accidentally overstate how many redundancies were in the air at First Plymouth after receiving and believing comments that were sent to me. That particular post was amended the same day to remove that line so was only ever actually on the web site for about 5 hours as it had been removed by about 10am on the day it was published. That lesson was learnt.
So where next?
Having asked the question – do I even want comments? I have to say that generally yes I do. I know many people enjoy reading them and find them useful. Most readers can disagree with stuff that I post or that others leave as comments and then make perfectly reasonable comments in return. The majority of comments are useful and interesting although I have had to hold quite a few back recently. I prefer not to as its a lot of extra work for me as its hard enough wading through the 50-60 ‘spam’ comments that I get in my inbox let alone weeding out genuine but inappropriate comments being left. As the anonymous writer points out I have treated some as spam and not published them. I dont generally keep them so cant see all the ones I have blocked but here are just a few of the recent comments I have held back:
  • Neither as I'm anti pcb & want to see them go out of business, they have no right ripping off the people of Plymouth
  • hope city bus has only put fares up on the route 50 seeing it new buses  (have they – Ive not seen anything to say they have?)
  • why has the bus fare gone up on the red flash if so I walk so catch stage coach (what does that mean?)
  • To be honest I have been using First for several years now as I got totally fed up with spiralling costs of the already expensive fares of PCB. I really could not give two hoots about RED, BLUE, YELLOW or whatever other form of gimmick FLASH bus they want to come up with, all I care about is COST and reliability plus friendliness of drivers, all of which First have constantly excelled at. First charge half what PCB do, and if as they promise Stagecoach keep fares the same then I for one will be using Stagecoach next week. There is no way I will go back to PCB ever and i know I am by no means the only one. From several reliable sources I have (not driver gossip either!) Stagecoach have big plans for expansion in the city in the next few years, this is just a start up skeleton network so PCB should take note!!!!  (Now I would probably have posted this one as at least its readable and makes sense even if its not saying anything new)
  • Citybus fares aren't reasonable, they're pricing themselves out of the market & losing customers everytime, they also don't care about the customer, all pcb care about is lining the pockets of their fatcat owners
  • I think you'll find that the 6 was full every trip so yes you can do it, the only reason first are closing down Plymouth is they can't be arsed to invest in new buses
  • gramham do u use the number 3 bus ,I do all time and it always busy more people on it than red flash and people even walk from barren bartton to catch 3 if number was not doing well why has stage coach had 100s of people say about it (then why have Citybus increased their buses and SC decided not to cover it?)
  • I hard that stage coach may be start up some more old first routes like the 3 if there can get more buses
So now what?
My initial reaction was to stop all anonymous comments. I really don't want to do that as it would stop a lot of interesting points being made. I still enjoy reading the comments so I wont let a few people spoil it for me.  I will however continue to monitor comments before I publish them. I will block comments which make allegations or name staff. I will block comments that just state that Citybus (or any other bus co) are crap and ripping people off. Its getting boring. I will block comments that are so poorly written its impossible to work out what they mean.

As for the perceived bias for Plymouth Citybus, well all I can say is that I do genuinely try not to be biased for any operator. The fact that as from this weekend the second operator in Plymouth is now Stagecoach will actually help here as they are a professional outfit with a good record of investment and who seem to me at least to be a lot better at marketing their services. The fact that Citybus will now have some serious competition in Plymouth is a good thing. All these comments being left stating that SC will be running lots of new services in the future – great. I hope that they do. It will be great to have two operators who believe in investing in new buses and services.
OK so rant over lets get back to blogging about buses again.
Plymouth Citybus 531 WJ65BYX Plymouth Citybus 531 the new red Enviro looking very smart. Just needs a white swoop now to finish it off!

Photo replaced with another version as it seems to have disappeared from my account! I hope to see some of you at least in the morning at Bretonside – have a good day

39 comments:

  1. This particular phrase 'I will block comments that just state that Citybus (or any other bus co) are crap and ripping people off', proves that your biased in favour of PCB,

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    1. Conveniently ignoring the words. 'or any other bus Co'

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  2. I have been reading your blog for a number of years now. You have always made clear that you do not have a bias towards any operator. Of the 2 big operators you have said (and many people I believe thought the same) that it has been a shame that First seemed on occasions to have little enthusiasm for their Devon business. That said you had always made it clear that the employees of all the operators are an important consideration and that great care should always been taken to ensure that they were not adversely affected by scare mongering and rumours. I believe you have adhered to that and always shown great compassion and respect in this area. Sadly, recently, has been a very stressful time for some people and there will always be a very small minority who will behave inappropriately. It is your blog and you are responsible for its content. If you wish to delete inappropriate comments (and that includes this one, if you deem it to be so) then that should be respected. I would just like to thank you for all your hard work in producing your blog. It is very much appreciated by me.

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  3. Well said Grahame. I've always found you to be balanced and fair. Sorry you have to sift through the mad and bad comments from people either espousing extreme partial views or just making things up. That and the barely comprehensible!

    I'm sure that I speak for many in congratulating you on this blog. Your efforts are appreciated by the majority.

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  4. I just wanted to say that despite some obvious faults from above re chopping of routes lately, I have in the main found First Devon services to be excellent...both reliable and good value. Their customer service (driver ) is superb also. Thank you to all at First for a great service over the past near 20 years I believe. You will be missed.

    Also that said good luck to Stagecoach, I am sure you will enjoy great success in and around Plymouth, I hope it is not too long before you feel confident to expand . It is indeed great to see such investment in Plymouth buses again.

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  5. Mr Richardson, you are not welcome as an enthusiast or blog writer anymore, shut down this biased blog at once! !!! !!!!!!

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    1. Why don't you merely stop reading it if it so offends you? There must surely be other things of interest to you on the internet that fit in with your views, whatever they may be. As someone who works in the industry (but not in the SW or for any of the groups involved in Plymouth) I am baffled by accusations of bias by Grahame and his excellent blog. Grahame is certainly most welcome as an enthusiast and blog writer as far as I am concerned and long may be continue blogging.

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    2. It is you that is not welcome as an enthusiast, why do you bother to read this excellent blog in the first place, nobody is forcing you to do so. If you didn't read it you wouldn't find it necessary to add such a ridiculous and hurtful comment.
      So please don't make any further comments and leave the rest of us to enjoy this blog.

      Thank you

      Delete
  6. Graham, don't worry, your blog has always been impartial. As you say, both First and Citybus have had their ups and downs over the years and you've always been even-handed, to the extent of even trying to defend what sometimes seemed rather indefensible!

    Speculation is always going to be part of people's comments, it's only natural - and I don't have a problem with that - it's when commentators present opinion and assumption as fact that causes difficulties. If it's a prediction or speculation then people should be clear and say so. I don't know what the answer is but if it means banning anonymous comments then so be it. Keep up the good work.

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  7. As a matter of standard practice, I treat any comment added anonymously with "polite suspicion". Because some of them come from industry high-ups who need to watch their pay cheques, I cannot ignore or delete them all. Thoughtfully incorrect comments will usually get a reply. Abusive, I ignore because the majority of my readers see them for what they are i.e. trash! But the odd piece of garbage opinion is a price worth paying for free and frank debate.One insult amused me. "What you don't know would fill a warehouse." Sadly, too true!

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  8. Such a shame you are having to put up with these sort of comments. I generally find that Plymothian Transit is well balanced and covers all operators to a good extent. As you say what can you do when Citybus are expanding and First are closing down and shuffling things around to take newer buses away. Although I find First staff are generally friendly, I hope Stagecoach bring some well earned investment to its services.

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  9. Once First pull out this weekend PCB will have the monopoly on routes & fares, there is & never will be any competition from Stagecoach. However mi do believe that the CMA will step in & deal with this & NOT allow the takeover to go ahead & instead force Stagecoach to divest as they were forced to in Preston

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    1. I think., given time to settle in, SC will proves to be real competition for Citybus, so I cant see the CMA stopping it now. They could force SC to divest - but who to? It was for sale for ages and no one wanted it.The fact that Citybus cut back some of their routes which were competing with SC shows me that they take SC pretty seriously. Next year I think could be quite interesting!

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    2. There is absolutely no chance of the CMA asking Stagecoach to divest its business in Plymouth.

      Plymouth Citybus are a large bus company against which Stagecoach are entitled to compete. You only have to look at the competition between the two companies in Oxford as an example. The takeover of Preston Bus was a completely different kettle of fish whereby Stagecoach had virtually a monopoly of bus services in the area apart from a few small independent operators like Fishwicks. The chances were that having acquired Preston Bus SC would have simply eradicated the smaller operators, giving them a total monopoly of bus services in and around Preston.

      To my mind Stagecoach will have done their homework and are here to stay in Plymouth, with a potential expansion of their services in the future.

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  10. As one of the first staff who worked in Plymouth and am staying with First and working for First Kernow. I have always found your blog intetesting, there never has been a lack of interest in trying to get the very best out of the buisness by the commercial, marketing and operational team. We all believed we could make a difference, sadly resources and backing from higher up often blocked our aspirations. I truly believe without the commitment of these people the gates could of shut long ago. Sadly many of these are not remaining as employees for either company, but they all I feel can hold their heads high and say we did the best we could and the outcome for the staff below us is the best we could of hoped for. Carry on with you excellent blog and if I can comment on Kernow in the future I will.

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    1. Yes, it does need pointing out that its amazing that the local team managed to keep things going as long as they did and did try different ideas, without the support from above who clearly didn't want to be here.

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  11. I always find it amusing ( or not) that people who criticise you for being biased towards a certain operator are clearly biased towards the company they think you are against! Ironic eh? When I started my blog I was accused of being a First hater as at the time First were appalling. In 18 months they had turned it round, I couldn't praise them enough, had got to know management and thus was accused of being up their backsides. You just cannot win if you are going to express an opinion.

    I restrcted anonymous comments for a bit but like you, Graham, decided I missed them too much and there are some in the industry who HAVE to remain anonymous due to the paranoia that exists at some operators. Therefore I reinstated anonymous comments. Sadly there are some really brave people - sorry I meant cowards - who will slag off the blog behind the cloak of anonymity without having the balls to reveal themselves.

    I have stopped blogging for a bit. That isn't due to any operators, who have all been fantastic to me and I have made some really good friends in the industry, who far from resenting my criticisms actually encouraged them as they recognised i came from a different angle from the majority of passengers and a lot of my criticisms have been taken on board and acted on. That's a good feeling. No, I have stopped because of the actions of a few so called enthusiasts who are happy to criticise but wouldn't know how to run a blog if their sad little lives depended on it. They seem to forget no one forces them to read the blogs!

    Just remember, Graham this is YOUR blog. I forgot that at times and it nearly did my health serious harm. You post what you like, about what you like and if there are people who don't like it then they can start their own blog and see how bloody hard t is. Listen to your friends, your industry insiders who encourage you. The messages of support I have received in this last week has been quite humbling. I'll be back in the future, probably in a different format and angle, and after talks with various people. If people are getting to you then take a break like I am. It's your blog, your life, and your right to say and do exactly what you like - and just like everyone else you are entitled to have favourites and those you don't like as much. You're human!. Hang in there mate.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words Steve. I've been watching what's been going on 'up there' with interest. to be fair you have had a lot more trouble than I have. I still enjoy doing what I do, and days like today when I was able to catch up with friends, and put faces to a lot more readers make it even more enjoyable. Have a good break and let me know when you start up again

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    2. Graham & Steve, Thank you for your hard work & effort in producing your respective blogs. Steve I'm sorry you are stopping blogging for a time, but fully understand why. I used to read your blog everyday as I do Grahams.
      I have found them to be an invaluable source of fleet information that I use to update the "First Group" fleetlist on the UK buses website, (along with other people). As I also have no industry connections I rely on responsible sites like yours and personal observations. Graham, please continue if you can, I'm sure your blog is appreciated by the majority. Thank you. Pete Tierney

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  12. Thank you for your blog.

    The work you do on timetable and route revisions is amazing.

    Please keep on with the blog it is appreciated by the majority of your reades,

    Best wishes to you and your family.

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  13. I would echo the majoprity of comments above. Graham you're doing a great job and it's plain to anyone with a modicum of common sense that you are not displaying bias to any one operator and that you are showing compassion and understanding to the hard working staff involved.

    I have to admit to smiling at the sort of comments that have appeared "A bus driver told me that the moon is made of green cheese", so it must be true. Canteen gossip could fill another warehouse.

    And Rob above - think for a moment. First have sold the business. If Stagecoach were to be instructed to divest it like Preston (where a monopoly was deemed to be created - unlike Plymouth), who would they sell it to? Nobody can make First buy it all back again. In my view, it's not going to happen.

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  14. Just to let you guys know, the MCV Evolutions that where in The Ride, have been moved to Belegrave Road in Exeter, and Stagecoach have sent some of their darts down as replacement.

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  15. Graham,just to say firstly I always enjoy reading the Blog,all the opinions are in The main interesting to read,The Situation in The South West is healthy all around I feel.Plymouth City Bus have new vehicles an extension of The Town Networks to compliment The Go Cornwall Routes,Stagecoach Extended there South West Area giving a Greater variety of places to Go with a Large investment of New Buses Expected in December - January,as for First they can concentrate on a Fresh Newer Corporate Look to Cornwall with a More Modern Low Floor Fleet,and offering the Local Commuter and holiday makers a more Relaxing and Comfortable journey,so everyone is a Winner and Looks Good for 2016 Thirty years on from The start of De Regulation,keep up the Good work Graham

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  16. I went on stage coach to tavistock ,and guss what I seen Plymouth citybus gone tavistock number46
    stage coach driver said couse we gone saltash there stay tavistock ,bus wars here we come

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    1. The Plymouth Citybus 46 still running is nothing to do with SC now going to Saltash. the 46 is a Devon County Council tendered service through to Okehampton. Citybus have only said they will be withdrawing their own commercial service to Tavistock (42) in a couple of weeks time. the 46 remains.

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  17. stage coach are uk biggest bus company and voted number 1 tread this on google
    so stage coach in devon now has a fleet off 350 buses and staff of 1250 people
    so how is Plymouth city bus bigger there only have 170 buses in fleet and staff is only round 450/500

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    Replies
    1. No one is saying that Citybus are the biggest operator, just that they are the biggest operator of Plymouth services. First Devon & Cornwalll were also bigger than Citybus if you took their whole fleet into account. But here in Plymouth Citybus must have about 75-80% of the city network

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  18. I think it would be a good idea for Stagecoach to attack one half of each of the Flash routes. That way, Citybus will be running at high frequency over a long route but one half of it will be under performing. If Stagecoach concentrate on one half it should provide a better service especially when there's traffic problems at the other end of the Flash route. Citybus running high frequency buses on half the route would hit them hard financially.

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    1. I am quite sure that Stagecoach will see how their new services bed down before deciding to attack anyone - and possibly don't need advice from Anon 11.11 as to their best tactics. They may well decide not to do any attacking at all, especially as Citybus seem to have made a quick withdrawal from competing routes such as Tavistock and Mountbatten. Stagecoach have already made a conscious decision not to compete with Citybus on the ex-First routes 3, 6 and 76.

      The best possible outcome for Plymouth might be an arrangement such as exists in Oxford where Stagecoach and Oxford Bus Company accept each other’s tickets, with the only proviso being that the first journey has to be made on a bus run by the company that issued the ticket. A week’s travel on any bus in Oxford costs £12. There is not the senseless competition there that Plymouth has experienced - like 14 buses an hour round Barne Barton - but instead a mature attitude by both main companies which provides that city with a good service and seems not to fall foul of the competition authorities.

      I think we shall find that Stagecoach has become a sensible bus company giving plenty of discretion to local managers and has ‘grown up’ a lot since Darlington days. If Citybus respect that, the two can co-exist quite happily.

      I would also not be surprised, if Stagecoach do decide to launch new services, they time them to complement Citybus services along the same road - in other words, if they decide to duplicate a Citybus half-hourly service, they will time their buses in between to give a regular-headway quarter-hourly service.

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    2. I don't get this expectation that Stagecoach are in Plymouth to attack Citybus. Look at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland and Oxford (as examples) and what do you see? Stagecoach and GoAhead running side by side and no huge bus war. Look at Swindon, Stagecoach and a municipal happily working side by side; look at Hull, look at - you get the idea?

      What makes Plymouth so different?

      Sure Stagecoach will be looking for opportunities to grow, of course they will. They will also look for weaknesses in others, again what business wouldn't? But all out "war"? I just don't see it.

      And just suppose Stagecoach do register half a Flash as suggested, in 56 days Citybus can itself split the route, increase frequency on one half, cut it on the other, or do what it likes. But I really think Stagecoach is much more mature than that. They will go for solid, sustainable growth. After all which is the bigger competitor/opportunity a few (in relative terms) Citybuses or the thousands and thousands of cars in the city?

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  19. "I think we shall find that Stagecoach has become a sensible bus company giving plenty of discretion to local managers and has ‘grown up’ a lot since Darlington days."

    I beg to differ on this comment, because you only have to look what Stagecoach done to the municipal operator in Preston back in 2006. This was precisely the same tactic as they used in Darlington by duplicating Preston Bus routes in order to put them out of business, or sell their operations to Stagecoach. The only difference was that the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (as it was then) let them get away with it in Darlington, whereas the Competition Commission (as it was then) took a much harder line and told SC to divest the Preston Bus acquisition. Stagecoach never have and never will launch an all-out bus war with a big bus group such as Go-Ahead, although in the latest acquisition in South Devon, they may want PCB out of Saltash hence strong competition on this route from the outset.

    As for the operations in Newcastle and Sunderland, the cosy little arrangement which exists between Stagecoach and Go-Ahead which in my opinion is tantamount to a cartel, may not last for much longer if the introduction of Quality Contracts in Tyne and Wear proceeds in the future as seems likely. No wonder Arriva, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead are fighting tooth and nail to stop them!

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    1. I agree with many other commentators, Stagecoach won't have gone into Plymouth planning to attack anyone. It makes no sense. There's been three bus wars in Plymouth since deregulation and none have lasted for more than a couple of years. Why should a fourth be any different?

      Stagecoach aren't stupid and I agree with Keith, today's Stagecoach is a mature, grown-up, sensible animal with an eye on the long-game. They're very, very good at developing what they have. People harking back to what happened in Darlington twenty years ago or Preston ten years ago are wide of the mark, it's irrelevant, time has moved on and so has Stagecoach.

      Suggestions of a cartel in the North East is a very serious allegation. Operators cannot be forced into on-the-road competition and there is nothing wrong with them running in, and developing their own 'patches'. In fact, that's what happens in most of the country, not just the North East. Nexus has stirred things up because it wants control and wants to empire-build. Anon 13:40 thinks it's a good idea. Perhaps.... but it's a shame the numbers don't add-up and the whole thing could potentially be a monumental financial disaster, as the bus companies affected are very well-aware. The same could happen in Cornwall too, be warned. Local authorities/Councils running buses when and where they think they should run versus professional bus companies running buses when and where people want to go? It's a no-brainer, and these franchising models outside of London are something we simply can't afford.

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  20. Graham

    Your "Comments" editorial is long overdue and I agree with everything you say. Keep up the good work and filter out nutty remarks

    Bryan

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  21. "Suggestions of a cartel in the North East is a very serious allegation."

    Serious it maybe, but although Stagecoach were not invoved, Go-Ahead and Arriva were found to be exchanging commercially sensitive information by the Competition Commission investigating the supply of local bus services, This was found to be cornering the market which is actually the definition of a cartel. This was not an allegation, it was indeed proven fact leading to the managing director of Go-Ahead and the commercial director of Arriva North East leaving their posts immediately thereafter.

    On the question of private bus operators being better than the former municipal operators, being a resident of Darlington, the council run bus services were second to none being much more frequent with more routes and more reliable than Arriva the current operator. So why shouldn't local authorities/councils run bus services? After all, they did it very successfully for over eighty years before the ideological privatisation referred to as deregulation occurred.

    On the subject of deregulation, the whole idea that competition would help keep fares down. Has it happened? No!

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    1. Yes, Arriva and Go-Ahead were found guilty. That's history. It's over. The allegation at 13:40 was that there is an existing cartel between Stagecoach and Go-Ahead - present tense, not past tense.

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  22. Anon @ 13.40 I'm afraid your version of history is a little incorrect - let me provide you with some detail:

    Darlington - was already significantly weakened by United and Independent (whose name I can't remember). Council agreed to sell to a company the staff didn't want to work for. The union approached Stagecoach, which moved far too quickly advertising for drivers and moving in vehicles. This premature move was why it was perceived to run DT out of business. All Stagecoach could see was joining up the territory dots in the NE. It should have waited for failure then picked off drivers/routes. Never defended its actions so perceived badly in press.

    Preston - business was already losing money, 2 bidders, 1 would only proceed if it had all of Preston (inc Stagecoach) the other wouldn't address pension requirements into £ms. Stagecoach actions intended to maintain jobs and pensions, but CMA wanted competition. If it had waited for PB to fail could potentially have taken the assets with no CMA interference. However the risk was a big rival eroding existing territory. Again, bad timing from SC.

    Glasgow - Strathclyde sold to First, Stagecoach didn't wait for investigation and launched competitive services. This was deemed enough for first to keep all of FiG and FSE. If stagecoach had waited it could have bid for a Glasgow depot from First. Bad timing again.

    Compare these to its recent actions, demonstrate a much more mature and considered approach.

    This is concise but happy for others to pad out more of the detail...

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    1. About Darlington - I too was a local at the time. It was Your Bus (aka South Durham Bus) who was the former MD of United who had been made redundant. The battle was him against United but DTC was in the crossfire. Should also be noted that because of the first bus war, DTC had only had 10 new Metroriders and had been seriously weakened.

      Will also add that the frequencies now are exactly the same now as they were in 1986 with the exception of the rather affluent Mowden area!

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  23. The frequencies are not the same.

    Take for example the 4/4A service in Branksome. This was a service which ran every seven minutes on weekdays and every fifteen minutes on a Sunday. It was augmented by service 3B which was a twenty minute service weekdays, and every thirty minutes on a Sunday. Therefore, there were significantly more bus services serving the estate in 1979 when I left, than there are now. Whether this amount reduced from 1979 to deregulation in 1986, I don't know?

    On the question of the Stagecoach presence in the town, despite their claims that they didn't want United to gain a monopoly of bus services, hence their much criticised actions against DTC, as early as 2001 they wanted out. When they did eventually sell up in 2007 to Arriva (who acquired United after the 1994 SC incursion) they did exactly what they said they were trying to prevent, and with the exception of a few contracted Scarlet Band services, handed Arriva a virtual monopoly provider of bus services. Brian Souter said the reason for leaving Darlington was because of the bad publicity surrounding the predatory actions against DTC. It was a pity it took him seven years to realise the error of his ways, and another six years to eventually bail out altogether!

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    1. The other irony in all of this Darlington shenanigans is that the operator who was the preferred bidder for DTC and which the union was strongly against, was Yorkshire Traction. Of course YT would subsequently be taken-over by..... Stagecoach!

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