Plymouth campaign - first leaflet
Plymouth City Bus to be sold…
Within hours of the council announcing that it was looking into selling its wholly owned local firm CityBus, both First Devon and Cornwall and a local taxi company boss expressed interest in acquiring the company. We’re not saying their buses will look like the shown one here but why change? Bloggs Bus or buses belonging to the People of Plymouth. Which would you choose?
Why sell?
Plymouth City Bus is profitable and public transport is also one of the few areas of employment to benefit from an economic downturn. Selling off the firm will surely lead to a reduction in services to the community and bus routes being lost. Who would this move benefit? That’s the question to ask. Ridiculously, the council claims there are “benefits for CityBus staff if a large commercial company was their employer, as working for a big company has benefits that we simply can’t offer, for example, share schemes or opportunities to travel and work elsewhere.” It’s news to thousands of bus workers around the country! Plymouth City Bus has not only kept employment standards high, it has done this by keeping a reasonably decent public service and providing the city with a modest profit in the bargain. Basically, Plymouth citizens have a bus service at no cost to themselves. Even fare prices, though still ludicrously high, are lower than they would be with private company ownership.
The campaign has begun
The campaign to keep Plymouth Citybus publicly owned is an insult to the workforce and management. An early demonstration of the campaign was staged at the Milehouse Bus Depot, where Devonport MP Alison Seabeck joined campaigners. "I would like reassurances that services will be protected and price hikes avoided, as has been seen in other cities where bus services have been privatised," the Labour MP said. More demonstrations will follow…watch this space! The Conservatives promised not to sell Citybus in the 2007 City Council election. Why trust them? Given the chance to bid for Government funding to run a pilot project to offer all primary school children in the city with a free school meal each day, the council turned this down without a word to parents, schools or anyone. Taking up a Government grant would have seen local children provided with a healthy hot meal every day. It would have been worth £100 to every household with a child under 11, £200 if you count the council matched funding.
“Why should it cost us a million quid to find out how much Citybus is worth when all they have to do is look at the balance sheet?”
What’s worse is that the people of Plymouth will have to pay to give their bus company away to private sector bus bosses. The council cabinet has agreed to spend up to £940,000 of public money to privatise the bus company Citybus. The “Business Ratio report”, published by Keynote Ltd. only a few weeks ago, is a respected bus industry financial comparison study. It reports this of Citybus: The company is 68th on a league table of over a hundred bus companies in asset value. Its total assets in the most recently filed accounts show a value of £10,164,000.
Is this what they want the money for?
Failing to recover public money tied up in Icelandic banks has blown a big hole in Plymouth City Council's financial safety net. The £13 million frozen in collapsed institutions equals almost 90% of the total reserves set aside by the local authority. Is Citybus, its employees and passengers, now to pay for the mess that this Tory council has landed itself in? £13 million might just be what they are looking for! Plymouth City Council says it will use the receipts of sale of Citybus to add to its normal service spending. But the sale of Citybus will likely bring in only around 2% of its total annual expenditure of over £600 million and be a pittance twards what’s really needed. What is this all really about?
Tell them what you think
The city council has six representatives on the board of PCB. Tell them your view by contacting them now by writing to the Council House, Armada Way, Plymouth, PL1 2AA, or e-mailing:
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