Concessionary fares

The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched a consultation into changes to the special grants to be paid to the travel concession authorities for the year commencing 1 April 2010, in order to ensure that the grant allocations better match the additional costs incurred since the England-wide ‘free’ off-peak bus travel was introduced for the elderly and <<

disabled in April 2008 – the proposed re-allocation is based on comparing the actual spending incurred by the travel concession authorities for the years ended 31 March 2008 and 31 March 2009. No additional monies are been allocated to the scheme – the proposed changes are simply designed to re-allocate the same sum of money in a ‘more equitable way’. It is proposed to alter the special grants paid to the following unitary and district councils in South West England:-

Bath and North East Somerset - plus £490k

Bournemouth - plus £70k

North Somerset - plus £170k

South Gloucestershire - minus £340k

Torbay - plus £590k

Cheltenham - plus £90k

Cotswold - minus £80k

East Dorset - minus £100k

Exeter - plus £1650k

Mid Devon - minus £100k

North Devon - minus £310k

North Dorset - minus £100k

Purbeck - minus £110k

South Hams - minus £210k

Teignbridge - minus £270k

Torridge - minus £130k

West Devon - minus £90k

West Dorset - minus £160k

West Somerset - minus £150k

South West England plus £910k

The consultation closes on Wednesday 30 December.

FirstGroup interim results

The interim results from FirstGroup plc for the six months ended 30 September 2009 reveal that despite a rise of over four per cent in the company’s income, the operating profit fell by eight per cent to one hundred and sixty-six million pounds – the company attributes the fall in profits to a twenty per cent decline in revenue at the North American coaching subsidiary, Greyhound, and to much higher hedged fuel costs of seventy-four million pounds. The UK Bus division reported a fifteen per cent decline in operating profits to fifty-one million pounds, as revenue growth fell sharply. The profits of the UK Rail division were unchanged, as First Great Western received sixty-two million pounds of revenue support from the Department for Transport (DfT), compared with twenty-five million pounds in the same period last year.

DfT public transport ticketing vision ‘undeliverable’

Bus operators have voiced considerable scepticism about the draft ticketing strategy of the Department for Transport (DfT) that aims to promote the use of ‘smart’ ticketing media such as smartcards, mobile phones and debit and credit cards. The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), which represents bus operators, has stated in response to the DfT consultation that the draft plans are ‘undeliverable’ in their present form and that ‘smart’ ticketing will offer no benefits over paper tickets for the majority of passengers. The CPT is particularly critical of the DfT proposal to incentivise operators to install ‘smart’ ticket readers on vehicles by paying a higher rate of Bus Services Operators Grant (BSOG) to vehicles fitted with this equipment – CPT argues that the proposed arrangements will lead to service reductions and increases in the cost of contracted services, as unconditional grants are replaced by conditional funding..

ATOC demands franchise changes

The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) has published a new report ‘Franchise Reform’ demanding that the Department for Transport (DfT) ‘scraps’ the micro-management of rail franchises and switches to a system of longer franchises – ATOC considers that the DfT should specify outputs (passenger satisfaction, punctuality etc. etc.), rather than inputs specifying rolling stock fleet sizes, timetables, the number of ticket machines at stations, as the DfT has done in recent years.

First Great Western to introduce second locomotive-hauled set

irst Great Western is introducing a second locomotive-hauled set from December 14, due to a shortage of available diesel rolling stock to provide the additional trains to be operated by the company, following the withdrawal of all services west of Exeter St Davids which are currently operated by South West Trains. The additional set will consist of Mark Two carriages leased from Cargo-D and class 67 locomotives provided by DB Schenker – the extra set will operate the following services on Monday to Friday:-

0619hrs Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central
0800hrs Cardiff Central to Paignton
1247hrs Paignton to Cardiff Central
1700hrs Cardiff Central to Taunton
1918hrs Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads

People

Nick Bye, the mayor of Torbay, and Nick Buckland, a member of the board of the South West Regional Development Agency, have been named as the joint chairs of the new South West regional transport and infrastructure board.

And finally,

The communications team of First Great Western have produced just one media release since 18 February 2009, according to the company’s web site! – the single release on 23 July 2009 welcomed the announcement by the Secretary of State for Transport to electrify the Great Western Main Line.