Harper bros

[woody38]

For anybody who is interested in the Cannock bus scene from the the past, the book shows how Harpers was a brilliant company, Bob you would love to now that back in the 70s they operated 5 duplicates from the Birmingham area at peak times, now there is nothing.
http://www.irwellpress.com/acatalog/BUS_BOOKS.html

[Bob]

I know shocking isnt it. Thanks to privatisation we now have a really rubbish bus service under a monopoly owned by a state german railway, thanks Maggie, wheres all the choice?

[MW]

Privatisation is much better.

If not, we'd have a useless service running from Birmingham to Cannock with a handful of passengers wasting tax payers money.

That's the reality whether you like it or not.

[Bob]

Talking out of your A**e there, the X31 used to have standing loads on certain journeys and was even busy in its last week. Privatisation isnt better, Nottingham has a far better quality bus service than Birmingham & so does Edinburgh, both bus companies in those cities are publicly owned. Privatisation was supposed to bring choice? Where is it?

[woody38]

Nottingham has just been awarderd UK bus operater of the year, whenever I have been to Nottingham there buses are reliable well maintained,well used.  They have about 5 park & Ride sites that are cheap & well used the last time I went there I found it hard to park. In another post somebody has said why does Birminghamn not have a park & Ride that must be down to centro.  The only think there interested in is the tram which to me is a waste of time & money because it only covers one area, if you had a couple of park & Ride sites like Nottingham I am sure more people would come into the city, the same with the night buses, whoever is running Centro is doing a terrible job.
http://www.busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=7306&categoryid=0

[Bob]

Didnt Edinburgh win that award previously as well? You only have to look at the state of the railways to see that privatisation & public transport doesnt work

[andy]

Nottingham has just been awarderd UK bus operater of the year, whenever I have been to Nottingham there buses are reliable well maintained,well used.  They have about 5 park & Ride sites that are cheap & well used the last time I went there I found it hard to park. In another post somebody has said why does Birminghamn not have a park & Ride that must be down to centro.  The only think there interested in is the tram which to me is a waste of time & money because it only covers one area, if you had a couple of park & Ride sites like Nottingham I am sure more people would come into the city, the same with the night buses, whoever is running Centro is doing a terrible job.
http://www.busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=7306&categoryid=0

I go to Nottingham frequently and quite frankly it feels like stepping forward in time with regards to the public transport when you live here in Birmingham.

[Bob]

By 1985/86 WMPTE had achieved a lot, such as an average 12 yr service life for their buses, under privatisation metrobuses were kept running till they were over 25 yrs old stinking of damp with rotted window rubbers particularly at Walsall, great for enthusiasts yes but from a passenger point of view? jesus

[j789]

But WMPTE ran Standards until some were 25 years old too. Also, if new buses had to be bought every 12 years what astronomical cost would that have been to the tax payer (if wmpte had not been deregulated) as large numbers of new buses would have been required every year from the early 1990s onwards to replace the Metros and then these 1990s buses would have again had to be replaced in the early 2000s - that surely is not cost effective!
I would also suggest that had there been a realistic and cost effective way of converting the Metrobuses to Low floor spec then they would still be going now. Good buses maintained fantastically well to keep going for so long.

[Bob]

Cost to the taxpayer? It depends whether you consider public transport a public service or a commercial commodity. I consider it the first one. And in the case of the railways ( maybe not buses) privatised systems cost the taxpayer more. Edinburgh/Nottingham probably have more modern and better kept ( interior wise at least) vehicles, and im pretty sure they dont run at a loss.