It’s funny how a question asked by a colleague can set you thinking. Earlier this week, I got an e-mail from somebody whose boss had asked him a question about fuel costs in the bus industry: what had happened to fuel costs since 1986? It was interesting, because the standard response is “well, of course [...]

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Introduction What is the relevance of little black dresses, you may ask? The intention of this piece is to look at the bus market from some different angles and look at some of the key ways in which the bus industry differs from other service industries and retail sectors. We may become very familiar with [...]

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I see from the trade press that transport minister Norman Baker has once again been expressing puzzlement over the fact that motoring costs have generally fallen in real terms over recent years, whilst bus fares have generally risen by more than inflation. Since this is fairly fundamental to his considerations of future policy as a [...]

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The esteemed Professor Peter Hennessy, the modern and constitutional historian, knows a thing or two about Government and public policy-making. He’s quoted in today’s Financial Times as saying that members of the political class reach the top not by evidence-based policy “but by mobilising prejudice more effectively than the competition.” As the FT’s own fascinating [...]

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Dear Mr Hammond First of all, congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State for Transport, and at the same time commiserations on missing out on the Chief Secretaryship at the Treasury. I am sure that the Treasury job might have been more to your taste, but transport will be no less demanding and, on [...]

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Takeover target Arriva saw operating and pre-tax profits fall sharply ahead of an exceptional pension credit in the year to 31 December 2009, according to its annual accounts. Turnover growth in the business was limited to 3.5%, though this was after a £150m cut in rail revenues caused by reduced track access charges feeding through [...]

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Train operating company profits rose very slightly in cash terms in 2008/09, though margins were marginally lower, according to new analysis published by the TAS Business Monitor on-line subscription service. Across the the franchised train operating companies as a whole, turnover was 6.6% higher at £8,511m, whilst operating profits totalled £328.8m (last year: £316.6m on [...]

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To be honest, the promised review by the Government of the future of passenger rail franchising was a bit of a damp squib. It was commissioned late last autumn in the wake of the East Coast Main Line fiasco last summer. And, given the speed with which it was carried out, one cannot help feeling [...]

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At first sight, today’s news about the number of vacant properties in town centres may seem to have little to do with transport or buses. In fact, the figures are very important indeed, because they tell us a great deal about the overall prosperity of our town and city centres – upon which the viability [...]

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There are many things wrong with the bus industry in the UK at the moment. Services are too slow – because they sit in traffic jams. Fares keep rising because costs go up; and demand falls for a whole variety of reasons: increasing car ownership, services that are less attractive becuase they’re slow and held [...]

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