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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 24, 2016 13:27:17 GMT
What he says may bear some truth on the railways. However, I understand that as TfL bus contracts are no longer on a net cost basis, the companies don't specifically profit from running London buses as such.
As an MP, Sadiq has less to worry about than some. Most of his local buses in Tooting are run by UK-based Go-Ahead. Furthermore, route 57 is of course being repatriated from French RATP in July!
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Post by snoggle on Apr 24, 2016 14:30:44 GMT
What he says may bear some truth on the railways. However, I understand that as TfL bus contracts are no longer on a net cost basis, the companies don't specifically profit from running London buses as such. As an MP, Sadiq has less to worry about than some. Most of his local buses in Tooting are run by UK-based Go-Ahead. Furthermore, route 57 is of course being repatriated from French RATP in July! Clearly they do make a profit or, at least, they aim to. No operator would run buses in London if they were not earning a level of return. The difference is that margins are considerably lower in London than they are in deregulated markets where operators have direct control over most of the fairbox income (local authority contracted services may charge different fares set by the tendering authority). Any annual report from a group that runs buses in London will show the difference in operating margins and the big dependency on retaining / winning work at acceptable margins to keep businesses ticking over. |
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Post by ServerKing on Apr 28, 2016 6:46:13 GMT
Just watching the BBC London News, and just saw Sadiq Khan make an interesting point about buses. He saying because buses are run using 18 franchises we are loosing money as some profit is being sent to places like France, Germany and Holland. If he gets voted, do you think our tendering system is going to be altered because of his opinion? For example, getting rid of companies like Arriva, London United, Abellio London, Tower Transit, Metroline and having Stagecoach and Go-Ahead London running most of London, maybe even First Group coming back as they as (I think) it is an English company OR having TFL running all the buses directly under their control. The man's a berk. He doesn't know what he is talking about. TfL are required, as LRT was, to competitively tender operation of the bus network. Does Mr Khan really think he is going to get primary legislation changed by the Government? Nope. Furthermore East Thames was "operator of last resort". It never competed directly with private companies so as to avoid accusations of unfair competition or "state aid". If Mr Khan tries to set up a "TfL bus company" to directly compete with private firms he may well find himself subject to legal challenge and that'll cost millions to defend. More waste. Where the heck is he going to get the money from the take over these bus companies? How is he going to fund the impact on the TfL pension fund if it suddenly gained thousands of new members? He makes these trite ridiculous promises because they are supposed to persuade trade union members in the bus companies to vote for him. Just like his "I'll pay all bus drivers the same" pledge. Where's the money for that coming from? And if you have long service and are on a good pay rate will you accept a pay cut as part of "levelling up" the pay rates for all drivers. I rather think not. Can "Mr I'll take £450m out of the TfL Budget" really find the hundreds and hundreds of millions of quid to equalise all bus driver wages to be the highest rate? I don't think he can. He also has NO control over pay negotiations with the bus companies so I don't even see how he can pay a uniform rate anyway. There are a thousand and one sensible things he could do to improve driver wages, improve the vehicles and improve the routes and reliability if he had the wit to do so. Instead he indulges in his own set of "dog whistle" policy headlines on transport which are economically illiterate and mostly impractical. It seems  they are both as bad as each other   |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 21:26:34 GMT
I predict Mr Khan will win.
London is gradually slipping into chaos and he will have more serious items on his agenda.
The London Ambulance Service is on its knees, the Metropolitan Police has to save £400m by 2020 and will shortly after the election announce plans to go from a 32 borough based policing model to half that , much larger geographical area of command.
Constant threat of terrorism, housing crisis, traffic crisis etc etc
If he finds time to rid London of the dastardly foreign owned bus firms then I would be surprised.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 21:35:05 GMT
I predict Mr Khan will win. London is gradually slipping into chaos and he will have more serious items on his agenda. The London Ambulance Service is on its knees, the Metropolitan Police has to save £400m by 2020 and will shortly after the election announce plans to go from a 32 borough based policing model to half that , much larger geographical area of command. Constant threat of terrorism, housing crisis, traffic crisis etc etc If he finds time to rid London of the dastardly foreign owned bus firms then I would be surprised. I think he will win as well. They are hyping him up to much. Although I hope he don't, he seems a bit strange and when people ask him questions, he never seems to answer them properly. |
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Post by snoggle on Apr 29, 2016 21:48:41 GMT
I predict Mr Khan will win. London is gradually slipping into chaos and he will have more serious items on his agenda. The London Ambulance Service is on its knees, the Metropolitan Police has to save £400m by 2020 and will shortly after the election announce plans to go from a 32 borough based policing model to half that , much larger geographical area of command. Constant threat of terrorism, housing crisis, traffic crisis etc etc If he finds time to rid London of the dastardly foreign owned bus firms then I would be surprised. I take your point but there are still 5 days in which anything can go wrong. The last 24 hours shows that the most unexpected sh*tstorm can appear out of nowhere and who knows who can get caught up in it. I frankly don't believe the polls and I think there are still too many uncertainties like the scale of the turnout (always been poor for Mayoral Elections), the reluctance of people to say they'll vote Tory even though they intend to plus the sheer unyielding ruthlessness of Tory campaigning. *If* Mr Khan wins then it'll be the first time in recent memory that a Lynton Crosby orchestrated campaign hasn't resulted in victory. Much as I would like to see a change I still think it's perfectly possible for us to wake up on Friday morning with Mr Goldsmith the victor. |
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Post by Nathan on Apr 29, 2016 22:49:44 GMT
I predict Mr Khan will win. London is gradually slipping into chaos and he will have more serious items on his agenda. The London Ambulance Service is on its knees, the Metropolitan Police has to save £400m by 2020 and will shortly after the election announce plans to go from a 32 borough based policing model to half that , much larger geographical area of command. Constant threat of terrorism, housing crisis, traffic crisis etc etc If he finds time to rid London of the dastardly foreign owned bus firms then I would be surprised. I think he will win as well. They are hyping him up to much. Although I hope he don't, he seems a bit strange and when people ask him questions, he never seems to answer them properly. That's politics, my friend  You can never get a straight answer from a politician. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2016 6:07:42 GMT
I think he will win as well. They are hyping him up to much. Although I hope he don't, he seems a bit strange and when people ask him questions, he never seems to answer them properly. That's politics, my friend You can never get a straight answer from a politician. Well, I see people like Zac Goldsmith still answer things better |
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Post by ServerKing on May 4, 2016 19:47:27 GMT
I predict Mr Khan will win. London is gradually slipping into chaos and he will have more serious items on his agenda. The London Ambulance Service is on its knees, the Metropolitan Police has to save £400m by 2020 and will shortly after the election announce plans to go from a 32 borough based policing model to half that , much larger geographical area of command. Constant threat of terrorism, housing crisis, traffic crisis etc etc If he finds time to rid London of the dastardly foreign owned bus firms then I would be surprised. He doesn't know how the international market works TfL (or predecessor London Transport) created the monsters when they sold off bus divisions to then UK companies - some so successful they attracted attention of foreign companies (i.e London United, Arriva, Metroline) who have provided them financial backing for all the hoops they have had to jump thru at Mr Daniels' whim as the years have passed (emission ratings, blind layouts, all-over-red rules, taking buses they never wanted like the Bendies - Metroline and London United never got saddled with the Bendies which was props to them  ). When First had enough of the London Scene, Tower Transit have done an excellent job in taking over. If he wants everything to be truly English, then Scottish-based Stagecoach will have to go with the rest of the 'foreigners'... giving Go-Ahead the whole of London (I think that's against EU competition rules?) Whoever becomes Mayor will in reality be a 'Director of Football' - it's Leon Daniels who decides what is what in London - especially with the bus scene. As long as we don't see any silly things like the Emirates Dangleway - though I think they still want to build the Garden Bridge across the Thames which I think is a waste of money... I can't see myself being up tomorrow night agonizing on who will win... The Policing Model scares me - Hounslow is sharing 3 police stations across a large borough since Brentford closed - Chiswick, Hounslow and Heathrow. I assume we would be buddied up with Ealing but I am sceptical how this would work if there was a real emergency  |
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2016 20:27:06 GMT
I predict Mr Khan will win. London is gradually slipping into chaos and he will have more serious items on his agenda. The London Ambulance Service is on its knees, the Metropolitan Police has to save £400m by 2020 and will shortly after the election announce plans to go from a 32 borough based policing model to half that , much larger geographical area of command. Constant threat of terrorism, housing crisis, traffic crisis etc etc If he finds time to rid London of the dastardly foreign owned bus firms then I would be surprised. He doesn't know how the international market works TfL (or predecessor London Transport) created the monsters when they sold off bus divisions to then UK companies - some so successful they attracted attention of foreign companies (i.e London United, Arriva, Metroline) who have provided them financial backing for all the hoops they have had to jump thru at Mr Daniels' whim as the years have passed (emission ratings, blind layouts, all-over-red rules, taking buses they never wanted like the Bendies - Metroline and London United never got saddled with the Bendies which was props to them ). When First had enough of the London Scene, Tower Transit have done an excellent job in taking over. If he wants everything to be truly English, then Scottish-based Stagecoach will have to go with the rest of the 'foreigners'... giving Go-Ahead the whole of London (I think that's against EU competition rules?) Whoever becomes Mayor will in reality be a 'Director of Football' - it's Leon Daniels who decides what is what in London - especially with the bus scene. As long as we don't see any silly things like the Emirates Dangleway - though I think they still want to build the Garden Bridge across the Thames which I think is a waste of money... I can't see myself being up tomorrow night agonizing on who will win... The Policing Model scares me - Hounslow is sharing 3 police stations across a large borough since Brentford closed - Chiswick, Hounslow and Heathrow. I assume we would be buddied up with Ealing but I am sceptical how this would work if there was a real emergency Interesting times ahead I fear. Khan wants to freeze fares for 4 years. So where will money come from for better services ? It is to the firms credit that they have stuck with London , must be decent profits I guess. Telling though how Metroline and L United are increasingly looking elsewhere for money. Regarding police etc, off topic i know, but there is considerable concern amongst officers exactly how these mergers will take place. Could see Hounslow paired with Hillingdon and Ealing ! |
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Post by ServerKing on May 5, 2016 1:16:58 GMT
He doesn't know how the international market works TfL (or predecessor London Transport) created the monsters when they sold off bus divisions to then UK companies - some so successful they attracted attention of foreign companies (i.e London United, Arriva, Metroline) who have provided them financial backing for all the hoops they have had to jump thru at Mr Daniels' whim as the years have passed (emission ratings, blind layouts, all-over-red rules, taking buses they never wanted like the Bendies - Metroline and London United never got saddled with the Bendies which was props to them ). When First had enough of the London Scene, Tower Transit have done an excellent job in taking over. If he wants everything to be truly English, then Scottish-based Stagecoach will have to go with the rest of the 'foreigners'... giving Go-Ahead the whole of London (I think that's against EU competition rules?) Whoever becomes Mayor will in reality be a 'Director of Football' - it's Leon Daniels who decides what is what in London - especially with the bus scene. As long as we don't see any silly things like the Emirates Dangleway - though I think they still want to build the Garden Bridge across the Thames which I think is a waste of money... I can't see myself being up tomorrow night agonizing on who will win... The Policing Model scares me - Hounslow is sharing 3 police stations across a large borough since Brentford closed - Chiswick, Hounslow and Heathrow. I assume we would be buddied up with Ealing but I am sceptical how this would work if there was a real emergency Interesting times ahead I fear. Khan wants to freeze fares for 4 years. So where will money come from for better services ? It is to the firms credit that they have stuck with London , must be decent profits I guess. Telling though how Metroline and L United are increasingly looking elsewhere for money. Regarding police etc, off topic i know, but there is considerable concern amongst officers exactly how these mergers will take place. Could see Hounslow paired with Hillingdon and Ealing ! I used to do contract work for the Met and know that morale in the Force is already low, and changes would have to not adversely affect how the emergency services can respond should the worst happen. I guess we'll find out sooner or later. I cannot see how fares frozen for 4 years will realistically work. Interesting times ahead. |
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You can never get a straight answer from a politician. 
). When First had enough of the London Scene, Tower Transit have done an excellent job in taking over. If he wants everything to be truly English, then Scottish-based Stagecoach will have to go with the rest of the 'foreigners'... giving Go-Ahead the whole of London (I think that's against EU competition rules?) 