\u00a0 \u00a0 Montgomery, who now works as a consultant after departing from Stagecoach in 2017, conducted a thorough analysis of the 558-page franchising assessment published in April. He claims he has identified \u201c19 fundamental errors\u201din the plans.<\/p>\n Most fundamentally, there is no detail whatsoever on where the [extra] buses will run, how many additional buses and staff will be required, what they will cost and how they will be funded<\/p>\n \u201cMost fundamentally, there is no detail whatsoever on where the [extra] buses will run, how many additional buses and staff will be required, what they will cost and how they will be funded,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no detail of how the development costs of those services will be met. Magically, lower fares won\u2019t actually cost anything \u2026 really ?<\/p>\n \u201cIn amongst all the rhetoric, the cost of more services, revenue risk, financial sensitivity, uncertainty, smart ticketing, fares simplification, journey speed and reliability risk, demand trends and pension costs are unquantified and unfunded.\u201d<\/p>\n Three key aspects of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) franchising aspirations, transitioning to a zero-emission fleet, lowering fares, and increasing services \u2013 are, according to Montgomery, fraught with risk due to being unfunded or partially funded, with some costs being \u201cseriously underestimated.\u201d<\/p>\n LCR mayor Steve Rotheram has championed reregulation as the solution to the area\u2019s bus network issues, criticising existing provision as \u201ctoo confusing, too unreliable, and too expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the LCRCA\u2019s plans, franchising would be introduced in five tranches, mirroring the approach in Greater Manchester. The first tranche, centred on St Helens, could see publicly controlled buses launching in September 2026. A decision on proceeding with the reregulation exercise is expected from Rotheram before the end of 2023.<\/p>\n Despite his critique of the franchising assessment, Montgomery acknowledges that reregulation might ultimately be the best option for bus reform in the region. He emphasises that his analysis isn\u2019t driven by ideological objections to franchising but by the poor quality of the proposal, which he believes fails to make a compelling business case as required by the Bus Services Act.<\/p>\n Montgomery also raises concerns about the inclusion of evidence from \u201cdiscredited\u201d proposals for bus service reregulation in North East England, which had collapsed some years ago. <\/p>\n It is crystal clear that the assessment is simply not fit for purpose and any decision based upon it to proceed would be reckless rather than rational<\/p>\n \u201cIt is crystal clear that the assessment is simply not fit for purpose and any decision based upon it to proceed would be reckless rather than rational,\u201d concluded Montgomery. \u201cIt is simply not financially sustainable without the ongoing injection of substantial, and more fundamentally, unquantified amounts of public subsidy.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the mayor truly believes that franchising is the best way forward for the region\u2019s bus network, he needs to level with the electorate on what the bill will be and what they will get for their money.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to Montgomery\u2019s criticisms, a spokesperson for the combined authority, said: \u201cThe bus franchising assessment is a combined authority document that was predicated on factual data and independently audited by KPMG. The combined authority is still in the process of considering its consultation responses.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout every stage of this process, mayor Rotheram and the combined authority have been transparent about the financial options for both franchising and enhanced partnership models to ensure that the public receives the best value for money.<\/p>\n \u201cMayor Rotheram will be taking a final decision on the future of the city region\u2019s bus network in the coming weeks.\u201d <\/p>\n \u00a0 DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The post Rotheram\u2019s bus plans \u2018not fit for purpose\u2019<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u200b\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Stagecoach UK bus boss criticises Liverpool City Region\u2019s bus franchising plans, citing \u2018fundamental errors\u2019 and concerns over funding \u00a0Montgomery criticised \u201819 fundamental errors\u2019 in the bus franchising plans \u00a0 Former Stagecoach UK Bus managing director Robert Montgomery has voiced strong criticism of the bus franchising plans for the Liverpool City Region, describing them as \u201cbold on rhetoric and making…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Montgomery criticised \u201819 fundamental errors\u2019 in the bus franchising plans<\/em><\/p>\n
\nFormer Stagecoach UK Bus managing director Robert Montgomery has voiced strong criticism of the bus franchising plans for the Liverpool City Region, describing them as \u201cbold on rhetoric and making a passable case for change,\u201d but ultimately \u201conce you get past there, it falls completely flat\u201d.<\/p>\n
This article appears inside the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n