Cost of bus wars ‘not sustainable’ in the long term warns First
T h e b o s s o f F i r s t B u s h a s wa r n e d t h e c o s t o f t h e b u s wars which has broken out in Edinburgh is not sustainable in the long term.
Confirming his company’s plans to launch a new opent o p b u s t o u r o p e r a t i o n , i n direct competition with Lothian buses, Andrew Jarvis said he was sure the capital’s booming tourism market could support more than one operator.
But he made clear the wider battle – which has seen the two companies encroach on each other’s traditional territor y – could not go on indefinitely.
First Bus plans to launch its hop-on-hop-off open-top bus tours on 1 July, under-cutting the £16 day ticket offered by Lothian buses.
Mr Jar vis, managing director of First Bus in S cotland, said: “Both in overall look and feel ours will be quite different – and quite a different set of price p oints as well. The grow th in the tourism market in Edinburgh hasn’t gone unnoticed so we’ve decided to launch a new operation.”
Lothian runs three distinct tours. Mr Jarvis said: “We will just be concentrating on one route that takes in all the main tourist attractions.”
H e s a i d F i r s t B u s h a d a c q u i r e d 14 b u s e s f o r t h e a l l - y e a r - r o u n d o p e r a t i o n . “They’ve nearly all been retro -fitted with updated Euro 4 engines to keep emissions as low as we can for a start-up business but the vast majority can be upgraded to full Euro 6 compliance for the Low Emission Zone.”
Last summer council-owned Lothian buses launched new L o t h i a n c o u n t r y r o u t e s i n West Lothian, traditionally First Bus territor y. In March, Mr Jarvis retaliated with plans for new ser vices into Edin - burgh. And this week Lothian announced new express coach routes from West Lothian to the capital. It is seen as an echo of the bus wars which raged between the two companies for 18 months around 2001 – before Mr Jar vis was i nvo l ve d i n t h e i n d u s t r y i n S cotland. He said: “It’s good for the passenger because they are getting a lot more choice of service. Whether it’s sustainable in the long term – I do have my thoughts on that.
“How sus tai nab le i s i t f o r t wo large businesses to sustain ongoing losses? Two big businesses can afford to do it for a period of time.
“In terms of the new operation – any star t-up business is going to incur initial losse s . We’r e s p e n d i n g m o n e y on refurbishing vehicles and we’ve got no revenue to pay for it.”
He added: “I’m more than confident the tourism market can cope with more than one operator operating ser vices, absolutely convinced.”
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