The Evening Post alerted me to the Competition Commission announcement released today that Stagecoach must sell Preston Bus to a bidder able to provide a competitive service. It seems a bit late for this as the deal was done months ago, buses have been re-branded and staff laid off or moved.
The sale was never a good thing from the perspective of local pride and autonomy but in the bus wars Stagecoach attracted enough passengers to make Preston Bus unable to carry on. This probably wasn’t too difficult against a big organisation.
Although I don’t use the bus I have been reading comments, that might be biased, that fares are increasing and the services less frequent since the takeover. Also that Stagecoach will move the good buses to other depots where they are seeking more customers. Whether this is true I don’t know but in my rare experience of travelling on Stagecoach I thought the buses were of a high standard. Also it’s a British company and is expanding overseas and into other areas like rail. Companies like this are needed to provide ‘British jobs for British workers’ and companies that contribute to the taxpayer in the long term rather than take subsidies.
I’m not clear on how the Competition Commission normally works but it seems a strange arrangement that a buy-out occurs, people and infrastructure are disrupted then months later it’s decided to put the clock back. Who pays for putting the clock back? At the time of the purchase the Competition Commission (CC) reported that no-one else had been willing to buy Preston Bus who was able to compete with Stagecoach. So who is going to do it now noting that the CC say the buyer must be strong enough to compete?
The announcement says “The sale will include a bus depot, other assets and a network of routes, including services formerly run by Preston Bus but since transferred to Stagecoach following the acquisition.” Does this mean all routes, just some and include non-former PB routes, and which ones? The full report is on the CC website and perhaps that explains more.