THE PROBLEM WITH BUS FRANCHISING - not radical and, certainly, not radical enough

Please check this out for correctness, accuracy:-

THE PROBLEM WITH BUS FRANCHISING - please correct and answer questions where necessary in your reply.  Thanks.

I think, money spent on franchising would be better spent on cutting fares towards Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT).  I've had it for 16 years but you youngsters are far more important and deserving and should get it, too.

When we last had franchising it didn't work. It did not stop rising car use and rising congestion and pollution.

Even now, fares and subsidies on loss-making routes are negotiated between TfWM and the bus companies. 

Don't let the councillors do yet more self-important empire building.

Their past record with trams was abysmal  - they simply got shot of the lot!

Their track record with the present trams is of delays and much confusion over trains and trams. They don't know the difference.  They built 23 Kms of tramway in 42 years, of which 20 Kms should have been trains on train lines.  What a mix up!

Could the councils become shareholders, plough their dividends into loss making but socially necessary routes and, towards FFPT?

More important than control or ownership is money for the bus operators. 

The transport planners have a single-minded devotion to tram networks and Sprint - the bus that thinks its a tram. Instead, go for schemes that reward motorists who leave their precious cars at home,eg: FFPT and other public transport incentives to reward car commuters rather than enraging them.

FROM KEZ SLEEMAN:

"I will answer your questions with one of my own, sorry:

"How do we prevent privatised bus companies from exploiting a system of full subsidy for all fares under the current system?

"There is a whole team at TfWM dedicated to bus services. While they may not get their fair share of the funding, the are competent and passionate about improving the bus network from my experience of working with them. There may be challenges in getting it set up, but I don't believe that we are inherently less competent in the west midlands than transport professionals in London who successfully run a far more complex bus network under a franchising model."