The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has opened discussions with Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin about the future of franchising in the region. The role of smaller operators was key to the talks, alongside raising standards and fleet decarbonisation.
CPT Senior Policy Advisor Rebecka Steven outlines the key requests the trade body feels will help SMEs participate in franchising. They include a call for government support to streamline procurement, ensuring accessible lot sizes, and investment security.
One ask is for the Department for Transport to produce an off-the-shelf template for policies that SMEs will accept.
“SMEs should not be
penalised for not having the resources on hand to develop and implement multiple policies at pre-procurement questionnaire stage,” she says, highlighting the administrative burden put on SMEs to have the multiple policies required in place.
“The [extensive] volume of documentation required in the procurement process is often very difficult for SMEs to deliver with their resources – so their options are to divert staff from front line duties, or to pay an external provider,” she explains. “The government could tackle this by aligning the documentation required to the size of the lot. We are also asking that a percentage of small lots be included as best practice, and that standard templates are made available for the consultations.”
CPT has further asked that an additional threshold is incorporated into the franchising guidance when it is updated to ensure that the impact on SME operators is fully considered, and any such operators are still able to meaningfully participate.
Moreover, CPT is calling for a residual value mechanism and agreement for the purchase of depots to be incorporated into franchise agreements to provide a safety net for operators and encourage investment in fleet upgrades without fear of financial loss under a franchise model.
“If operators are guaranteed a value for their vehicles should a franchise model be taken forward, they will still be able to make a case for investment internally,” explains Ms Steven. “If there is no investment in vehicles, the network will at best stop growing, and at worst the higher costs of maintaining an ageing fleet will lead to network size reduction.”
CPT’s final ask of government is to consider joint ventures to encourage wider SME participation in franchising.
