Privatised Transport Gone Mad
Bus firms compete on subsidised route
Oxford Mail 2:32pm Tuesday 16th December 2008
By David Horne »
Two bus operators – one receiving £80,000 of public money – are now competing for passengers on the same Witney route.
The ‘bus wars’ between RH Transport, of Downs Road, Witney, and Worths, of Enstone, started on Monday.
'I just can’t see why they need two services'
Kizzy Thornton
Yesterday, two buses arrived within five minutes of each other at about 9am at Witney Market Square to pick up just one passenger.
And from December 27, both companies will switch to virtually the same timetables on the Witney to Charlbury and Chipping Norton route, taking in the villages of Finstock, Ramsden and Hailey.
The situation has arisen because the county council has switched its route subsidy of £80,000 a year from one operator to another. The new subsidised service, X9, is being run by RH Transport and started operating on Monday.
Worths, which previously had the subsidy, has decided that it will also continue to run buses on the route with its 69 service because it thinks it is still viable.
Passengers include students at the Witney campus of Abingdon and Witney College, as well as commuters.
RH declined to comment.
But Paul Worth, director of Worths, said: “Even though our bid for the renewal of the subsidy wasn’t successful, it’s a commercial decision to continue.
“We have knocked off the Chipping Norton end of the route on some of the services throughout the day because we don’t think it’s viable. But on peak services it has been standing room only.”
Since bus deregulation, there is nothing to stop firms competing on the same route.
The council awards subsidies on selected routes to keep important but commercially unviable services running.
The total county bus subsidy bill is £5m a year.
Council spokesman Paul Smith, said: “The awarding of the subsidy on this route was done through the normal tendering process.
“The operator cannot go above a maximum fare we set. They can charge less, only as long as it does not undercut an existing service.”
Worths charges £2.20 for a single from Witney to Charlbury. Under subsidy rules, RH can charge a maximum £2.60.
Neither operator, or the council, knew details about passenger numbers.
Kizzy Thornton, 32, was the sole passenger waiting for the 9am bus to Chipping Norton from Witney yesterday.
He said: “I use the Worths service fairly often and it’s been a good one.
”I just can’t see, though, why they need two services, it seems strange. What we need is a late service, around 11pm, and it looks like we’re now getting it, again from both of them.”
Igor Goldkind · Tue 16 Dec 2008, 16:22 · Link