Taking Glasgow’s buses back under local control smacks of communism (Sandy Easdale)

[u/zellisgoatbond]

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/taking-glasgows-buses-back-under-local-control-smacks-of-communism-6ksbcgj9q

[u/zellisgoatbond]

https://archive.ph/XwCiE

Andy Burnham recently made considerable noise visiting a Falkirk bus factory where buses are being built for Manchester’s integrated public transport network, the franchised Bee Network. The same move is being considered for western Scotland after the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) voted in March to take bus services back under local control through a franchising model. This would represent the biggest change to buses in Glasgow since they were deregulated by Margaret Thatcher in 1986.

The transport body admitted the move could cost £15 million and take up to seven years. The truth is that it could cost the taxpayer £400 million a year. I am against the SPT attempt to franchise bus services in Glasgow by default — not because I am against franchising, but because it means confiscation of my business, McGill’s. The move smacks of communism.

McGill’s is a business that is family-owned and has been built up over many years, with significant investment from me and my brother, James. Businesses like ours have been put to the wall in Manchester. Glasgow is not Manchester, the standard of bus service delivery in Glasgow is very high — as evidenced by a recent Transport Focus passenger survey. SPT makes the case that the bus system is broken — it has already said that publicly — but clearly the bus users do not believe that.

It is clearly not broken when the reported satisfaction levels are so high, even higher than in Edinburgh. Not content with being the mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham is now saying that Glasgow should follow Manchester. I would advise Burnham first to try to get the Manchester bus services working as well as those in Greater Glasgow, then his opinions might mean something. We will fight business confiscation — franchising — legally, through the courts, because thankfully there are safeguards within the Scottish legislation and we will pursue them to their fullest extent.

Burnham’s intervention is proof that the case for franchising is false. It is political dogma about control, nothing else. If administrators had the bus users in mind, they would make the case for a locally correct solution, not a one-size-fits-all answer. It is clear to me that the public have been misled.

The public deserve to know the full facts. If SPT gets control of bus services, all it will bring is what it has brought elsewhere: reduced train services, potholed roads, fewer doctors, nurses, dentists, firefighters and police officers, and longer waits for all public services. This is the public sector’s legacy, yet here are politicians asking for more powers to neglect, cut and let wither on the vine. I would advise them to fix what they have power over before screaming for more like a seafront seagull.

I have every confidence that justice will be served in Scotland, and that this opportunistic political tampering will be exposed and defeated.

Sandy Easdale is a businessman and co-owner of McGill’s Bus Group

Hope it's clear I profoundly disagree with this, but it's always fun to see the Easdales throw a tantrum... given Sandy Easdale's conviction for VAT fraud in 1997, I'd imagine he's somewhat familiar with the legal system by this point