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There must be a better way to set up incentives. Eg. Company is chosen - they get a temporary monopoly on a route, for free instead of having to pitch a ridic
by jonplackett 5y ago
There must be a better way to set up incentives.
Eg.
Company is chosen - they get a temporary monopoly on a route, for free instead of having to pitch a ridiculous low ball
But...
Every time a train is late, they pay £100,000
Every time a train is cancelled they pay £1,000,000
They pay £10 for every passenger complaint.
Etc etc
- chrisseaton 5y agoWhy would a company sign up to be flogged like this, though?
- ferongr 5y agoDoes the state pay the company when delays, cancellations and passenger complaints are a result of publicly owned infrastructure and timetable planning?
- gsnedders 5y agoThe existing management contracts pre-COVID19 (primarily London Overground and the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern railway (yes, that's all one company!)) _did_ have penalties for late running, partial cancellations, or full cancellations. One can argue whether increasing the fines would lead to better service, or whether it would just increase the cost they bid for the concession to cover those costs, effectively resulting in increased subsidy. There's also the fact that in many cases there's limitations to what the concession can do: the existing ones have had much decided by the body granting the concession (such as rolling stock, thus limiting their ability to procure more reliable rolling stock if needed), and they don't have any control over infrastructure (and e.g. signal failures or flooding).