Regular readers (and anyone who has ever worked with me) will know that I frequently bang on about the need to ‘get out from behind your desk’ and see the world through the eyes of those who are not in the Whitehall bubble.
Fascinating. I’d never come across that blog. Some quick (and quite possibly incorrect) thoughts. I suspect that the bus services in the areas mentioned are not being provided under the model introduced in the ‘85 Transport Act (anyone can run a service provided they meet safety standards and the local transport authority has no control over frequency, fares or the type of bus used) but under the Quality Partnership provisions of the 2000 Transport Act which allows the LTA to provide facilities and operators who use those facilities to provide an agreed level of service. London buses are run on a franchised basis, where TfL specifies the services it wants and operators bid to provide them, being granted a local monopoly if they’re successful. The ability to provide a franchised service in areas with a metro mayor was introduced in the 2017 Transport Act - GM being the first area to use the powers - and Labour are proposing to extend the powers to other English local authorities. So the interesting question - if only to me given my role in implementing the ‘85 Act when I was at OFT - is whether there are any LAs providing good services under the provisions of the original Act?
Really interesting article from the £60k train driver in response to the question about why there is a shortage of train drivers when it is apparently very well paid for the amount of work that is required.
Another interesting article - this time about managing the buses and trains. Thank you @MartinStanley.
Whenever PoliticIans put all their faith into the magic wand of re-organisation, my blood runs cold. If the civil servants couldn’t effectively manage the Train operating companies through their contracts, how could they be expected to run the operational delivery as well?
Most of the TOCs run transport operations round the world. Surely their expertise should mean they can run them more effectively than the Public Sector?
If they are not, what has gone wrong? Did they bid too low? Wouldn’t the due diligence in the contracting process have highlighted this? We won’t ever take on the lowest cost contractor at home. There lies corner cutting and lots of “extra costs” being “discovered”.
And where will the capital funding come from if these organisations are renationalised? Publicly run organisations are starved of capital investment (just walk round your local hospital) because it increases pressure on the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement.
Shareholders provide capital funding and are paid dividends in return. But these should only be when profits have been made. Poor regulation has allowed shareholders to plunder our infrastructure. Organisations not funded through equity are generally funded through loans, which are repaid with interest regardless of the organisation’s performance.
The profit motive and pressure to meet customer expectations, through either competition or regulation, should force managers to make the required changes despite the inconveniences of making them. Without these external factors, organisations will run for the convenience of the managers and not the customer.
Effective regulation is critical and we’ve had 20 years of poor oversight by the politicians. Fixing the system rather than enormous, costly and distracting organisational change, would surely be more useful!
There used to be a great “blog” (the term didn’t exist then) from someone writing a regular piece along the lines of “Confessions of an underground train driver”* Like the article here, it was thoughtful, philosophical, well written, informative and insightful. These are useful characteristics in many roles
As the job of train driver offers no progression opportunities, maybe the
TOCs and the unions could look at the skills, competences and personal characteristics for a good train driver and seek out other job roles that also require a similar profile. Then they could offer more development and progression opportunities, supporting greater levels of motivation and job retention and another industry or organisation could benefit from having access to the skills they need.
*It may have been in the FT magazine that came with the weekend FT. (I also enjoyed Tim Harford’s “Undercover economist”). Or possibly in Prospect magazine.
Fascinating. I’d never come across that blog. Some quick (and quite possibly incorrect) thoughts. I suspect that the bus services in the areas mentioned are not being provided under the model introduced in the ‘85 Transport Act (anyone can run a service provided they meet safety standards and the local transport authority has no control over frequency, fares or the type of bus used) but under the Quality Partnership provisions of the 2000 Transport Act which allows the LTA to provide facilities and operators who use those facilities to provide an agreed level of service. London buses are run on a franchised basis, where TfL specifies the services it wants and operators bid to provide them, being granted a local monopoly if they’re successful. The ability to provide a franchised service in areas with a metro mayor was introduced in the 2017 Transport Act - GM being the first area to use the powers - and Labour are proposing to extend the powers to other English local authorities. So the interesting question - if only to me given my role in implementing the ‘85 Act when I was at OFT - is whether there are any LAs providing good services under the provisions of the original Act?
Really interesting article from the £60k train driver in response to the question about why there is a shortage of train drivers when it is apparently very well paid for the amount of work that is required.
A good read for any student of management- and I’m including reflective and curious managers who seek to improve their own management performance
Gives many clear examples of answers to such questions as:
What motivates people to perform at their best?
To what extent does pay elicit higher performance?
How important are relationships with colleagues and bosses?
What about the interest and challenge inherent in the work?
Thanks Paula. Great points!
And I'm glad you and others found the train driver's article to be interesting. It surprised me when I first read it - but in a good way.
Another interesting article - this time about managing the buses and trains. Thank you @MartinStanley.
Whenever PoliticIans put all their faith into the magic wand of re-organisation, my blood runs cold. If the civil servants couldn’t effectively manage the Train operating companies through their contracts, how could they be expected to run the operational delivery as well?
Most of the TOCs run transport operations round the world. Surely their expertise should mean they can run them more effectively than the Public Sector?
If they are not, what has gone wrong? Did they bid too low? Wouldn’t the due diligence in the contracting process have highlighted this? We won’t ever take on the lowest cost contractor at home. There lies corner cutting and lots of “extra costs” being “discovered”.
And where will the capital funding come from if these organisations are renationalised? Publicly run organisations are starved of capital investment (just walk round your local hospital) because it increases pressure on the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement.
Shareholders provide capital funding and are paid dividends in return. But these should only be when profits have been made. Poor regulation has allowed shareholders to plunder our infrastructure. Organisations not funded through equity are generally funded through loans, which are repaid with interest regardless of the organisation’s performance.
The profit motive and pressure to meet customer expectations, through either competition or regulation, should force managers to make the required changes despite the inconveniences of making them. Without these external factors, organisations will run for the convenience of the managers and not the customer.
Effective regulation is critical and we’ve had 20 years of poor oversight by the politicians. Fixing the system rather than enormous, costly and distracting organisational change, would surely be more useful!
There used to be a great “blog” (the term didn’t exist then) from someone writing a regular piece along the lines of “Confessions of an underground train driver”* Like the article here, it was thoughtful, philosophical, well written, informative and insightful. These are useful characteristics in many roles
As the job of train driver offers no progression opportunities, maybe the
TOCs and the unions could look at the skills, competences and personal characteristics for a good train driver and seek out other job roles that also require a similar profile. Then they could offer more development and progression opportunities, supporting greater levels of motivation and job retention and another industry or organisation could benefit from having access to the skills they need.
*It may have been in the FT magazine that came with the weekend FT. (I also enjoyed Tim Harford’s “Undercover economist”). Or possibly in Prospect magazine.