Greater Manchester Tenders

[P528LND]

RE: Greater Manchester Tenders

(11/12/2013 10:45)jimbo Wrote:  There are other factors too, but personally you see so many journeys dropped on oldham tenders due to breakdowns and late running, fact is another operator could probably do a better job

Do you remember the scenario with First regaining them in the first place? Bluebird (and bearing in mind this was when they were a renowned good company with an excellent fleet) couldn't sustain a decent service due to breakdowns and First were redrafted in to operate it as an emergency replacement operator due to the ridiculous amount of breakdowns from Bluebird.

Besides that, no other operator would be able to sustain a service with such quick replacement should things actually go wrong. Regardless of whether First have a monopoly or not in the area, it is in the best interests of passengers and the taxpayer that costs are kept cheap, and the service, if disrupted, can be reinstated quickly and reliably due to Firsts Oldham depot being slap bang in the town centre, other operators being massively further out apart from Stotts. This is something Stagecoach, JPT and unfortunately even Stotts wouldn't be able to keep up, because may I mention that Stotts' fleet of Solos isn't that substantial and if they were to gain the contracts and should something go wrong more than once or twice, they would probably not be able to cover.

I agree it is in the best interests to keep the service with First, and not just because of the reliability and cost issues to the tax-payer, but the convenience of passengers. After all forking out £4 is better than near £6.00 if you need to use these contracts as well as connecting commercial routes.