Tory Bus Privatisation Has Been A Disater In Manchester

[Gromit]

The UK bus network* was privatised in 1984, a flagship Conservative policy. Now the Mayor of Manchester wants to return the network to public ownership, citing its terrible record compared to London which was exempt from the Act.

Passenger numbers have plunged since the service was privatised in 1986, with the number of annual journeys falling by 45% from 355m then to 195m in last year. “Many of those people have migrated to the car, as we see from the congestion,” said Burnham. In London, bus use almost doubled in the same period, rising from 1.2bn in 1986 to 2.2bn in 2018, he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/24/greater-manchester-considers-taking-back-control-bus-network

Anyone against this proposal by Manchester’s Mayor ?

[ToraToraTora]

ooo, would Manchester possibly have a Labour Mayor? Well roger me sideways! Have a day off gromit!

[gingejbee]

Neither for nor against....since I am highly unlikely to travel by bus in Manchester, what happens there is of no interest to me.

[ludwig]

TTT, what's your problem? I thought you wanted the railways renationalised.

[ToraToraTora]

don't know if you noticed ludders but these are buses

[ludwig]

Yeah, but you understand the general principle that if a transport system becomes carp after it's privatised, it's probably not a bad idea to un-privatise it?

[andy-hughes]

The age-old problem, which the Tories don't actually care about, is their fallacious argument that turning a service into a business improves it, which history shows is rarely the case.

When you provide a service, which is funded from government, the focus is on providing the service first, and the justifying its cost to central funding officials.

When you start a business, your entire focus is on profit and you focus only on the aspects of the business that can generate a profit, and anything and everything else is discarded.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that the two concepts are utterly incompatible.

The Tories love privatisation because their God is market forces, and they think anyone who can make money out of anything should be given the opportunity to do so.

The reality is that some things - and public transport is one of them - need to be provided simply because society benefits from the, and paying money to benefit society can actually be a good thing.

If you focus on profit, then you develop tunnel vision which has a huge pound sign at the end of it, and your obsession becomes cutting costs, which means cutting services, but that doesn't matter because you are no longer providing a service, you are running a business.

Except you shouldn't be - that is the point.

[naomi24]

Ludwig, //you understand the general principle that if a transport system becomes carp after it's privatised, it's probably not a bad idea to un-privatise it? //

That's a terrible idea. That means the tax payer's money props up failing business ... even my money ... and I can't remember the last time I travelled by bus.

[andy-hughes]

naomi - // That means the tax payer's money props up failing business … //

My point exactly - no-one objects if the tax payer props up a failing service, they do it on a daily basis - with the NHS.

[Hopkirk]

Hang on, doesn't Manchester have an excellent tram service? Perhaps that's why they are not on the buses.

[ludwig]

// That's a terrible idea. That means the tax payer's money props up failing business //

Taxpayers money props up lots of things that would probably fail if run as a business. The police, the prison service, the education system, roads, health etc etc. It's not a radical concept. As Andy Hughes put it..

//The reality is that some things - and public transport is one of them - need to be provided simply because society benefits from the, and paying money to benefit society can actually be a good thing. //

I'm not saying this is what should happen in Manchester - I know next to nothing about Manchester and its transport system. My initial response was really just aimed at clarifying TTTs dismissive approach to the idea when he's said several times on here that he'd be in favour of renationalising the rail network.

[Hopkirk]

I remember British Rail. Not good.