First Bristol buses plunges into the red

Major bus operator First Bristol has announced a pre-tax operating loss of over two million pounds for the year ended 31 March 2007 – revenue grew by 2.3 per cent to £38 million, but costs increased by 11.9 per cent to over £40 million (employee costs were down by 6.3%, as the company shed one hundred and five staff – the depreciation charge rose by 50 per cent, because of the recent influx of new buses).

In 2004/5 First Bristol was generating a positive operating margin of 9 per cent – just two years later, the company has a negative operating margin of 5.3 per cent. Despite the welcome recent investment in new vehicles, the average age of the First Bristol fleet is 9.9 years, considerably in excess of industry targets.

The management of First Bristol has not grown the company’s revenue in real terms (it has barely kept pace with inflation), partially due to the appalling operational reliability, while costs have escalated sharply.

These dreadful financial results from one of the region’s largest bus companies clearly illustrate the difficulties been experienced by operators, large and small, to trade profitably.

Gloucestershire County Council consults on bus service changes

TravelWatch SouthWest has warmly welcomed the recent initiative by Gloucestershire County Council to give public transport users the opportunity to comment on any proposed changes to contracted bus services in the county – details of the proposed changes will appear on a new ‘Bus Service Consultations’ page on the Council’s website (‘www.gloucestershire.gov.uk’) with a closing date for feedback on a particular proposed amendment.

TravelWatch SouthWest looks forward to other county councils and unitary authorities in the South West adopting similar procedures to ensure that bus users have the opportunity to comment on proposed alterations to tendered bus services.

Government spending in South West

The Treasury has confirmed that spending by central Government in the South West region for the year ended 31 March 2007 amounted to £6,677 per person - central Government spent £7,121 per person for the whole of England and £8,623 per person in Scotland (twenty-nine per cent higher than the South West).

Stagecoach West in dispute with district councils in Gloucestershire

Stagecoach West has claimed that the six district councils in Gloucestershire have failed to comply with a ruling by an adjudicator appointed by the Department for Transport to pay the company an additional sum of over £447k in respect of concessionary travel for elderly and disabled people.

And finally,

Stagecoach is testing different fragrances on board its buses and obtaining customer feedback – the perfumes are sprayed into the internal bus environment through automatic dispensers. The company state that it is hoped that ‘the addition of these sweet smells might enhance the travelling experience!’