Tom Anderson wrote:
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!

I'll accept those odds - we'll never be wrong then!


--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London