Tuesday 5 July 2011

Harrogate Bus War

A bus war has broken out on a route between Wetherby and Harrogate with services now running every few minutes as two companies vie for custom.
Buses operated by Transdev used to run half-hourly until April, when competitor Connexions decided to run services a few minutes ahead of them.
Now, following timetable changes there are as many as three buses turning up within six minutes.
This is a classic case of so called "competition" whereby a new operator registers a service a few minutes ahead of the established operator, who naturally isn't going to stand back and see their business taken away and retaliates by adjusting their timetable accordingly.
The Competition Commission said it was aware of the situation in Wetherby and Harrogate and was looking into it as part of a wider national investigation into bus services.                          
David Gambles