Manchester Community Transport to Close

Manchester Community Transport (MCT) has announced today that it is proposing to close in late April, citing mounting losses and difficult trading conditions.

The community transport operator was rescued from closure in 2017 by joining HCT Group, and has been reliant on them for financial, management and technical support since that time. Operating conditions for MCT have not improved sufficiently for continued support to be viable. HCT Group can no longer sustain MCT’s losses and has no alternative but to withdraw support.

“It’s a really sad day for all of us” said Phil Stockley, Interim Managing Director at MCT. “Colleagues from across the Group – and the whole staff team at MCT – have worked tirelessly to put the operation here on a sustainable footing.

“We understood the level of difficulty facing MCT when we took on this challenge, but felt strongly it was worth every possible effort to preserve a Community Transport organisation with such a longstanding tradition of service in the area. We have done all we can, but the situation does not appear to be recoverable and we can no longer maintain our support.”

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freetoview33 said:

Wonder who will take over the routes?

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Alexbus12 said:

Theres 51 routes, I gather TFGM are going to have to do a massive retendering process in 6 weeks. Going to be hard work for them with this and Jim Stones.

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Andyh82 said:

That list of 51 routes on their website is out of date. For a start they don’t run the Rochdale area services anymore.

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Alexbus12 said:

Theres 51 routes, I gather TFGM are going to have to do a massive retendering process in 6 weeks. Going to be hard work for them with this and Jim Stones.

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Busaholic said:

How refreshing to get the picture straight from the horse's mouth, without the bull, if that's not mixing my metaphors too much. Seems like a rational decision made at the right time, if there ever can be a right time. MCT obviously did their best to keep it all together, and it's a shame it couldn't carry on.

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PhilStockley said:

At least half the routes were retendered last autumn (before my tenure) because the contracts expire in April. The fact that we now know we can’t retain any of that work and the remaining half (which is already loss making) can’t support the overhead is a big reason why the timing is now. So TfGM have already done at least half the work. Moreover we’ve been in continual dialogue with TfGM over a long period about the viability of the business so they understand very well the position. While we might all have hoped that this eventuality could have been avoided, it will not come as a surprise to them.

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PhilStockley said:

I’m not sure where luck comes into it. I work for HCT Group. We merged with MCT in 2017 but I was in a different part of the group at that point. By late 2019 after two years of effort by the group it was clear that MCT was still in a really precarious position so I was asked to take charge to see if it could be salvaged. After a few months of intense work the conclusion that we’ve reluctantly come to is that it can’t. Part of the skill of having a role like mine is knowing when it’s time to make the difficult decision. It’s not luck - it’s my job!

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