The Evening Post alerted me to the Competition Commission (CC) report issued on 3rd September 2009 relating to Stagecoach taking over Preston Bus Limited. The CC have quite a good website and there is a lot of stuff related to this inquiry. In fact it’s a very big read with a few hundred pages on this case alone.
The output says they provisionally believe there will be a significant lessening of competition (SLC) in commercial bus services but not in tendered bus services after submissions from a broad base of involved parties.
On the face of it that seems fairly obvious. As does the statment in the report that Preston Bus and other local operators feared competition from Stagecoach and so were restricted in opening any routes that might be thought to be threatening. Also that Stagecoach feared Preston Bus being taken over by another large operator. Although that isn’t to say the report isn’t worthwhile as it contains interesting information that would not have otherwise been public.
The report says the Stagecoach Frenchwood garage was one of the least profitable so in my opinion it isn’t hard to imagine that Stagecoach would seek ways to improve it although at the time maybe Preston Bus didn’t know Stagecoach had such a strong need. Small bus operators are bound to be at a disadvantage against larger companies. The only protection they could have would either need to be legislative or through loyalty of customers. In this case the people of Preston seem to have voted to travel on Stagecoach buses to a level that made Preston Bus struggle. Unfortunately it wouldn’t need that many to have done that.
There is local pride, sentimentality and a sense of control in having the name of the city on the buses but when it comes to business those factors don’t pay any bills. The provision of bus services is one where competition is fierce and the players are circling each other all the time. That no-one else was willing to buy Preston Bus for a decent price during the competition, as stated in the report, meant that Stagecoach had played their hand well.
My own opinion is that Stagecoach got a bad reputation in the early days of deregulation when they were building up their business but since then they have maintained a decent fleet and provide a good service. Any business is going to look to make the best of its resources and in general if you are not growing you are shrinking in the world of consolidating globalism. Preston Bus was quite vulnerable and Stagecoach are operating on a national and international scale. On the other hand I would have liked the buses to have kept their livery and the badge of Preston on their side. A world of bland uniformity might be our destiny as we pop out of WH Smith and onto the Stagecoach in Lancaster and for a moment thought you were in Preston. How much do you want to pay for diversity or are council tax and bus fares high enough?