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Working to achieve passenger satisfaction

Posted: 24 April 2013 | Simon Posner, Chief Executive, Confederation of Passenger Transport UK | No comments yet

There is no industry in the UK – nor indeed the rest of Europe – that could begin a Foreword to a publication with any words other than “these are challenging times”. Speaking on behalf of Britain’s bus, coach and light-rail operators, I can therefore say with some certainty that these are challenging times indeed. The challenge for our operators is threefold.

First, there is the challenge of rising costs, quite alarmingly so in the case of fuel, against decreasing income.

Second, is the squeeze on the public purse. Whilst our bus industry is not reliant on public subsidy, the amount of money available from central Government has diminished. As a result, local government funding for tendered services has been cut, BSOG (rebated fuel duty) has been reduced, and problems – however uninten – tional – remain with the reimbursement of revenue foregone for concessionary fares. These factors have had a serious impact on the bottom line of operators.

There is no industry in the UK – nor indeed the rest of Europe – that could begin a Foreword to a publication with any words other than “these are challenging times”. Speaking on behalf of Britain’s bus, coach and light-rail operators, I can therefore say with some certainty that these are challenging times indeed. The challenge for our operators is threefold. First, there is the challenge of rising costs, quite alarmingly so in the case of fuel, against decreasing income. Second, is the squeeze on the public purse. Whilst our bus industry is not reliant on public subsidy, the amount of money available from central Government has diminished. As a result, local government funding for tendered services has been cut, BSOG (rebated fuel duty) has been reduced, and problems – however uninten - tional – remain with the reimbursement of revenue foregone for concessionary fares. These factors have had a serious impact on the bottom line of operators.

There is no industry in the UK – nor indeed the rest of Europe – that could begin a Foreword to a publication with any words other than “these are challenging times”. Speaking on behalf of Britain’s bus, coach and light-rail operators, I can therefore say with some certainty that these are challenging times indeed. The challenge for our operators is threefold.

First, there is the challenge of rising costs, quite alarmingly so in the case of fuel, against decreasing income.

Second, is the squeeze on the public purse. Whilst our bus industry is not reliant on public subsidy, the amount of money available from central Government has diminished. As a result, local government funding for tendered services has been cut, BSOG (rebated fuel duty) has been reduced, and problems – however uninten – tional – remain with the reimbursement of revenue foregone for concessionary fares. These factors have had a serious impact on the bottom line of operators.

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