r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	meepmeep13
Comment	It's not a franchising system like the railways, they're a licensed private bus operator, i.e. they make money from running buses wherever they think demand is sufficient. They do have some contracts with the council to run subsidised (i.e. loss-making) routes, but basically they're as free to run whatever buses they want for however long they want to do so (subject to meeting the conditions of the licence). This is why we have multiple companies, there's no inherent monopoly over services for the council to take over. There's no good reason for there to be one, unlike the railways which are physically constrained by the need to run on specific railway lines. There is nothing stopping the council from setting up their own bus company. It's just that they would be running in direct competition with First and would so likely have to run at a massive loss, or only run the subsidised routes, again at greater cost due to economy of scale - so it would be a bad use of public money. So the potential sale of First Glasgow would have allowed the council to establish a company that would be economically viable by having reduced upfront costs and competition. If that's not on the table, then the council can't realistically enter the market at any scale. The only way this changes is if the Scottish Government makes radical changes to the private bus operation model. While there have indeed been such changes proposed over the past couple of years, with significant support in Holyrood, remember that despite somehow painting themselves as social democrats, the SNP are very much centrist and pro-private business and are in favour of the private operator model.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/eta10d/public_bus_ownership_plans_off_the_table_after/fffqfp1/
Created	Fri 24th Jan 2020 6:12pm
Status	normal ()

It's not a franchising system like the railways, they're a licensed private bus operator, i.e. they make money from running buses wherever they think demand is sufficient. They do have some contracts with the council to run subsidised (i.e. loss-making) routes, but basically they're as free to run whatever buses they want for however long they want to do so (subject to meeting the conditions of the licence). This is why we have multiple companies, there's no inherent monopoly over services for the council to take over. There's no good reason for there to be one, unlike the railways which are physically constrained by the need to run on specific railway lines.

There is nothing stopping the council from setting up their own bus company. It's just that they would be running in direct competition with First and would so likely have to run at a massive loss, or only run the subsidised routes, again at greater cost due to economy of scale - so it would be a bad use of public money.

So the potential sale of First Glasgow would have allowed the council to establish a company that would be economically viable by having reduced upfront costs and competition. If that's not on the table, then the council can't realistically enter the market at any scale.

The only way this changes is if the Scottish Government makes radical changes to the private bus operation model. While there have indeed been such changes proposed over the past couple of years, with significant support in Holyrood, remember that despite somehow painting themselves as social democrats, the SNP are very much centrist and pro-private business and are in favour of the private operator model.