Vocal Voices

First Group is thought to be about to sell off its First Bus division. This group runs one fifth of buses, mainly in the larger cities of the UK, so selling them off could impact millions of us in our daily lives, especially getting to and from work.

I am wondering if the time is right for places like Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds to take ownership back into local control. I am not thinking of a kind of 're-nationalisation' and handing them over to council idiots, but more like them being partner companies with councils.

Something is going to have to happen if this sell-off goes ahead. The bus division is said to be losing money, but this has to about more than profit. There are things that the country and society needs where profits do not, and should not, come into play such as schools, libraries, hospitals etc, and transport is one of them.

Yep, and all thanks to an "activist" investment company holding 10% of the share capital who is agitating for more profit and returns. No thought for the social impact on consumers whatsoever.

I would have thought that if this sale or demerger or whatever does go ahead, both National Express (long out of the rail market) and Stagecoach (newly out of the rail market) might well be interested - if they can get around the Monopolies Commission regulations. Both are British companies with possibly a greater understanding of the needs of the UK travelling public.

I was also interested to see First Group are making noises about pulling away from GWR and South Western Railway over similar concerns (open ended pension liabilities) that both Stagecoach and Arriva Trains recently expressed. It looks like they may want to concentrate solely on the North American market.