| Comment | Nothing, really. Well, money, or lack of it.
If Glasgow Council, and say North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire councils, were to create a plc, it would have to compete against First, Stewarts, McGills, et al. I don't know how this would play out. In Edinburgh, there were "bus wars" between the firms with First winning control over some Lothian regions and Lothian Buses winning control over Edinburgh City. I imagine, today, the concept of competing in a free market might be daunting to Glasgow Council, considering the massive stranglehold that First now has on the city. But, who knows?
Should also point out the Transport for Edinburgh is a bit of a legal smokescreen. It isn't like Transport for London at all. It's an organisation that has been built to mimic TfL, but has no legal power to do so. It is relying on the operators playing along. This is easy enough considering the councils are the major shareholders in the companies that the "body" apes to regulate. However, there is nothing stopping Firstbus or any other operator from moving into Edinburgh with big bucks and doing whatever they like (within the usual limits). TfE could try and throw weight around and the new private operators can tell them to go get fucked. |
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