On Sat, 16 Dec 2006, Dave Arquati wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Fri, 15 Dec 2006, Dave Arquati wrote:

Boltar wrote:
Paul Corfield wrote:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...t.asp?prID=984

"Transport for London (TfL) has announced that MTR Laing and Go-Via have
been selected to submit a 'best and final offer' for the contract to run
London Overground services on the integrated North and East London
Railways, under the management of TfL."

Why can't TfL just run it themselves? Why does it have to be sub
contracted out?

Why should they run it themselves? Doing so would be unlikely to bring
many benefits. The concession approach is similar to the running of the
DLR, which has a phenomenal track record, and it allows a performance
incentive and penalty regime to be installed so that the concessionnaire
is continually motivated in the right direction. You'd be unlikely to get
that sort of drive if TfL ran it themselves.

Because, as we well know, everyone who works for TfL is an incompetent,
unprofessional, disinterested jobsworth who has no interest in actually
providing a decent service to the public.

Oh, no, hang on a minute ...

Hmm, you abused my point a bit there :-)

I should clarify - TfL could operate an adequate service on London
Overground. They could even operate a high-quality one if they tried
hard enough (shock horror). However, the incentivised concessionaire
will *have* to deliver a high-quality service if it wants to survive.

I understand the theory, but am concerned about the practice - as the old
saying goes, in theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice,
they're not. Yes, the DLR and Tramlink work well in private hands, as do
some NR TOCs, but there are plenty of bits of privatised or
semi-privatised transport infrastructure that emphatically do not. I don't
feel like we really have a good handle on what it is that makes some cases
work and others not (what was so different about Chiltern and Connex?),
which makes me wary of a rush to put the NLR into private hands. I suppose
neither of us are saying that it won't work either way, just that it could
work the other way!

tom

--
THE DRUMMER FROM DEF LEPPARD'S ONLY GOT ONE ARM!