A Bus Centre of Excellence webinar on plans for buses in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough included a clear indication that the Combined Authority there had considered a future role for smaller operators within its franchising scheme. Until then, the future for SME operators within other bus franchises looked pretty bleak.
Here, I am considering the ‘S’ end of SME rather than the ‘M’ element, which has its own issues. Our small, family-owned and often long-established operators are very good – and very cost-effective – in niche roles, providing local routes in rural areas or smaller towns with a regular driver and equally regular clientele.
One such was referred to by the Saddleworth Independent as its branded village bus run by Stotts of Oldham that was coming to an end. The phrase I think was used was that the route was being absorbed into Manchester’s Bee Network (my italics).
The new operator may be doing a fine job, but the local community view is of a Greater Manchester takeover, a loss of identity. Even more sadly, deprived of its bread and butter, Stotts – having run buses on the Greater Manchester/West Yorkshire border for years – has ceased trading.
It is not only the size of the franchise contracts that discriminates against our smaller operators, but the weight of the procurement submission. The specification is often geared more to building the next Forth Crossing than providing a taxi to take two SEND pupils to school.
It would be nice to see a tick-box marked ‘I have two minibuses, and my son and daughter-in-law are my drivers. Why would I have a DEI policy or a written statement on modern slavery? And where would I fit an apprentice?’
We have to be fair to these hard-working people and recognise that they often do not understand how to write 1,000 words on their staff development programme. It does not mean that they are not the best operator for the job.
It has been suggested that the way to sustain SMEs is through subcontracting. But that is dependent on who holds liability and the willingness of the main contractor to follow that route. And why would they? The addition of a local minibus to a contract for sixty buses is neither here nor there.
We cannot afford to lose this sector. Unusually, I am arguing against a level playing field, a different approach: Small number of buses, smaller procurement.
