On 12/07/2013 19:25, Paul Corfield wrote:

All the other buses are owned by the bus companies or else leased by
them. Why should a company like Abellio which has no link to a former
LT subsidiary be forced to muck around with its asset management and
accounting systems just because TfL say so? It's daft and if TfL were
going to impose this on firms then I'd expect the extra costs to be
factored in. You then have to ask why the public purse has to have
these extra costs imposed?

It does presumably work for the trains, which have a common numbering
system, even if it is fraying around the edges a bit.

Qhat with a reintroduction of a single bus livery and now imposition of a new standard type of bus on operators, this could lead to the Tory Mayor of London
presiding over something his socialist predecessor failed to achieve, a re-establishment of Central Road Services in all but name...

This rather presumes that Boris really gives a toss about bus
services.

If he doesn't, might that mean TfL is ignored and left to get on and do
whatever it wants to do?

He doesn't - the NB4L is a Policy Exchange idea not a Boris
idea. All that has happened under Boris is that fares have gone up
more than 50% in 5 years,

Anyone know what % of bus passengers actually pay full fare?

subsidy has been slashed and any meaningful
expansion of services to keep pace with soaring demand has stopped.

Wasn't there a fair bit of expansion under the previous mayor? As an
incomer, I think there could a risk of overkill (with the exception of
one route which needs reinstating, of course!).

His first term promise to deliver new orbital bus services was killed
off on cost grounds after the X26 trial.

Was there actually a promise to deliver, or merely an intention to
investigate? I get the impression that a lot of political "promises"
don't actually exist other than in the media reporting of them, with the
politicians' "subject to further study" and "if it is viable"
disclaimers getting "lost" in the reporting.



--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK